'I will always be very grateful to him for opening the door'
It’s crazy how it has all worked out so successfully for Mike Prendergast in France. When the ex-Munster scrum-half took the plunge in 2013, quitting a grassroots level coaching role in Ireland to try and earn his spurs at the age of 36 with an overseas pro team, he never envisaged still being away and going so strong nine years later.
He had to duck and dive to be granted an audience in the first instance, putting feelers out all over the place to see what might materialise somewhere, anywhere. Then when it did, he had to haggle before packing his bags as the original Grenoble offer was just for three months, a length too risky for him to go all in.
In the end, hands were shaken on a year-long skills coaching tie-up and the Irishman has since become the textbook on how an ex-player who isn’t a household name can go about building an enviable career CV. A variety of experiences have been mined at four different French clubs, Prendergast incrementally jumping up the pecking order – from Grenoble to Oyonnax and then Stade Francais – to eventually become a valued member at big-budget Racing.
Now, though, comes the parting of the ways. He had another year to go in France but timing is everything in sport so when Graham Rowntree signalled he wanted a chat over the spring, the suggestion of a three-year deal to come home to Munster was simply too good to ignore.
It’s been a life-affirming adventure and not just because of the rugby. When he emigrated from Ireland his only daughter was eight. Now she’s coming home as a 17-year-old with two French-born sisters in tow – one born in Grenoble, the other in Paris during the lockdown – and a dad whose pidgin French from his year playing at Bourgoin in 2006/07 has now transformed into a reputable fluency.
“It changed my life and my family’s life,” said Prendergast to RugbyPass. “We initially thought we were going to come for two, three years maybe and go home. Nine years and we are still here and I was a player away for two years (Bourgoin and Gloucester), so eleven years living abroad is quite a long stint. Two of my daughters were born here, so we are very much attached to France. My two older girls both speak fluent French and my wife has been incredibly happy here as well, so we have a huge attachment and always will to this country. It’s a place that has given me and my family good opportunities.”
Looking back, Prendergast has Bernard Jackman to thank. Long before Zoom became a thing, the ex-Ireland hooker had blagged his way into a consultancy role at Grenoble, striking up a long-distance relationship in 2011 with their boss Fabrice Landreau. He became full-time in France for 2012/13 and ended that season acting as a go-between, putting in a good word for Prendergast and forcing the door ajar for his fellow countryman.
“At home, there are just four professional teams so it is very, very hard to break through,” explained Prendergast, jogging his memory back nine years to when he was in charge at amateur club Young Munster and wondering how to catch a break and get involved with a pro team. “I did up a CV and contacted literally every coach I had been coached by and any player I had played with that was involved in the game.
“I literally contacted everyone and Paul O’Connell and Alan Quinlan would have known Bernard quite well. He was over, they got me in contact with him and it just materialised from that. I will always be very grateful to him for opening the door for me to get into professional rugby.
“Grenoble were looking for a skills coach on a part-time basis for three months during the summer to see how it went. I went over and met them. I said I was still with Young Munsters and couldn’t walk away basically for just three months, it would have to be a season. They agreed, so they gave me a year’s contract as a skills coach and it took off from there.
“It was a nice position to go into, especially in a French club where I didn’t really have the language because as a skills coach you’re not in the firing line, I wasn’t presenting videos. I was able to go in, see how it operated and most importantly improve my language because the most important thing when you’re coaching is getting your message across and not having the language can hurt that small bit.
“It gave me that year to build up my language, see how the club ran, see how the whole system ran over here. I swallowed up as much French as I could and that helped me in building relationships with players. I always say the biggest thing about working in French coaching is the number of different nationalities. Each club has ten to twelve and you learn a huge amount from these guys.
“I’d be the type of coach who’d be quite open – I like having conversations with people and building relationships whether it is stuff outside of rugby or within rugby. When you’re talking rugby to the guys from New Zealand, Australia, Fiji, France, Scotland, wherever, some of them look at the game differently in certain aspects. When I was coming through I would be the type of coach that would have held on to the parts of the game I felt would suit me as a coach. That is what I have done and that’s what my philosophy is now.”
Lovely to catch up with one of the best attacks coaches in the game this morning @racing92 . Great facility and really open environment. Mike hasn’t forgot his roots either ?? pic.twitter.com/ZjK8vzeFkx
— Bernard Jackman (@bernardjackman) September 29, 2021
He was four years at Grenoble taking on a myriad of roles, switching from skills to backs and then two years as attack coach. A year at Oyonnax followed, as did another at Stade Francais under Heyneke Meyer in tandem with his old Limerick pal O’Connell. Then came another leap of faith. “I was actually on my way down to Toulon after that with Patrice Collazo and just at the last minute, Racing’s attack coach Laurent Labit was going to France.
“It was decided quite late he was going in with Fabien Galthie so Racing contacted me to see would I be interested and I was. I met with them and they offered a four-year contract which was great security in coaching, something that doesn’t come around too often. Everything appealed to me that it was the right thing to do.”
The Racing attack and backs coach never bought a property in France. Renting is the thing when you have a nomadic lifestyle. “I never ended up buying here. We moved a good bit, so the club would rent a place for you and you go with that. You live in Paris, you live the Parisian life, a city that has got so much going on. In Grenoble, which is a beautiful part of the world by the mountains, skiing is at your front door. There were two very different, very interesting ways of living.”
What about the contrast between the various rugby set-ups, those with limited budgets and others with bulging wallets? “With teams like Grenoble and Oyonnax, two great clubs, when you’re just promoted from Pro D2 to Top 14, it’s very, very tough because you’re up late, do your recruitment quite late and don’t have the budgets the bigger teams have.
“You’re battling to win every week and you’re probably losing 70, 80 per cent of your games. That is a tough station because you’re going in on a Monday trying to be some bit positive after your losses but then after your wins, you really celebrate them, enjoy them and whatnot.
.@mikeprendergas3 debriefe la première mi-temps avec les trois-quarts #FCG #COFCG pic.twitter.com/QtQW7zIpLE
— FC Grenoble Rugby #AllezFCG (@FCGrugby) October 24, 2015
“With Grenoble and Oyonnax, the pressure you’re under is in terms of staying up, staying afloat. You’re battling on all fronts and every point is massively important for you. And then I saw the other side of it, when I came to Racing it’s a different type of pressure, a pressure to win competitions, to be making playoffs, you’re in semi-finals, you’re in a Champions Cup final and losing and there is heartbreak… they are the big rugby experiences for me.
“I challenged myself a lot more than I would have envisaged, put myself into awkward places and awkward positions to try and progress and from that point of view I’m more resilient than I would have been before I left Ireland. There was a core of Irish at Grenoble and Paul O’Connell was at Stade, so to go into a club like Oyonnax that I didn’t know a huge amount about was an interesting one.
“They had put in a new 4G pitch and wanted to change how they played. Previously they would have been very much a forward-orientated team with a big kicking game, but they wanted to change how they played, change their style and philosophy. It was a big challenge to be invited to do and it stood out.
“You were going in trying to change habits because the majority of that squad would have been there for a number of years. I remember beginning in the 2-4-2 system there and it was very new to the boys but fortunately, they bought into it and they adapted to it very well.”
The names of the players he enjoyed coaching most in France roll off the tongue, from the likes of Gio Aplon and Charl McLeod at Grenoble and on to the stellar cast at Racing, performers such as Juan Imhoff, Gael Fickou, Virimi Vakatawa, Finn Russell, Kurtley Beale and Donnacha Ryan, who has since become part of the La Rochelle coaching set-up that last month humbled the Parisians in the Champions Cup semi-finals.
It's a derby victory for Racing! ??
And they sealed it in style with this Olivier Klemenczak try ? pic.twitter.com/kahQ97uNjs
— Premier Sports (@PremierSportsTV) September 4, 2021
Along the way, he has seen French rugby transformed in its thinking. “For years, I remember talking to players who were on the fringes of the French team and if they got into the squad they got in and if they didn’t it wasn’t going to hurt them that much, there wasn’t that big drive to get in there. Now there is a drive.
“Any team that is successful everyone wants to be a part of it and the younger generation coming through have really pushed that. They have seen the Irish and the English dominate the Six Nations and gone, ‘Hold on a second, we’re athletically good it not better than any of these teams in the Six Nations and if not worldwide. How come they are ahead of us?’
“French players now want detail, especially the younger generation. They are quite challenging, which is a real positive because you try and find solutions, and the way the game is played has also changed. Traditionally it would have been a slower type of game but they have brought in a lot of new hybrid pitches, 4G pitches, so the ball in play is longer, there is probably less kicking and it’s a quicker game in general.
“The coaching has got better at the clubs and the biggest thing is just the alignment between the clubs and the federation. Bernard Laporte went in as president, brought in Fabien Galthie, got the right men into the right positions. For years, the FFR and the clubs weren’t aligned and that became a struggle with your conditioning and your rugby coaches unable to communicate and align with each other and make sure everyone was doing it similarly.
“They have managed over the last few years to align it so it is all geared towards World Cup 2023. A lot of stuff fell into place at the right time and it is falling nicely. You look at the playing population over here, it’s huge, and it is only going to get bigger with success. I think 10.6million watched the last Six Nations game which for rugby was huge. It’s on a real upwards curve and they have all this young talent coming through as well which is frightening.”
?? ??????? ?? ??????
Avec @randstad_france découvrez les 23 Racingmen qui défendront les couleurs Ciel & Blanc demain face aux Bordelais ?#UBBR92 #RacingFamily @GroupRandstadFR pic.twitter.com/pivpT6Gw9l
— Racing 92 (@racing92) June 11, 2022
Prendergast now wants to sign off as a winner at Racing. They play their barrage game on Sunday night at Bordeaux knowing three wins would crown them Top 14 champions. “I’d just love to finish the season well with a trophy and you can head back then to Ireland quite happy. I still had another year here and there were talks to maybe stay on.
“But nine years on the road coaching is a long time, I just thought the timing was right. When you look at Munster this year and the players they have got coming through and the established players, they have a nice balance in terms of the profile of their players and that did excite me talking with Graham Rowntree. I knew a few people that would know him.
“I didn’t personally know him previously until we got chatting and everyone speaks so highly of him. When I spoke to him I gathered why straight away, you could tell he is a good person and a massively experienced guy as well. When you look over the years at what he has done and achieved as a player and a coach, that appealed to me. Look, you come away for nine years, you learn a lot and you can bring back all those learnings to do hopefully something special at home.”
Comments on RugbyPass
The Hurricanes are good, especially with a decent coach now. However, let’s be real, the Crusaders and Chiefs are clearly a good degree weaker without the players they’ve lost overseas now. The Canes lost one player. It’s also why the aussie teams ‘seem’ to be stronger.
9 Go to commentsOr you could develop your own players instead of constantly taking from the SH competition and weakening it in the process? With all the player and financial resources these unions have compared to SH countries you’d think they could manage that, or is weakening the SH comps and their national sides an added bonus? Probably.
3 Go to commentsNot so fast Aaron, we might need you in black yet lol. God knows he’d be a lot less nerve-racking than hot and (very) cold players like Perofeta. It’s really a shame Reuben Love isn’t playing 10, we’ve got enough 15 options.
4 Go to commentsAnd those from the NH still seem to be puzzled (and delighted) why NZ’s depth isn’t what it once was. Over 600 NZ players overseas, that’s insane. This sort of deal is why Super Rugby coaches have admitted they struggle now to find enough quality to fill out their squads.
6 Go to commentsArticle intéressant ! La question devrait régulièrement se poser pour les jeunes français originaires de Nouvelle-Calédonie, Wallis-et-Futuna et de Polynésie entre la Nouvelle-Zélande et la Métropole… Difficile pour la fédération française de rugby de se positionner : soit le choix est fait de dénicher les jeunes talents et de les faire venir très tôt en Métropole, au risque de les déraciner, soit on prend le risque de se les faire “piller” par les All Blacks qui, telle une araignée, essaye de récupérer tous les talents des îles du Pacifique… À la France de se défendre en développant l’aura du XV de France et des clubs français dans ses collectivités d’Outre-mer !
3 Go to commentsWrong bay. He needs to come to the REAL BAY which is Bay Of Plenty and have a crack at making the Chiefs.
3 Go to commentsIs Barrett going play full back??? They already have all the centers…
15 Go to commentsForgive my ignorance, I might not fully understand so would appreciate clarification: Didn’t the Bulls have to fly with three different carriers, paid for by the South African Rugby Union, whilst Edinburgh got a chartered flight sponsored by EPCR? Also, as far as I understand it South African teams don’t yet share in the revenue from the competition and are not allowed to host Semi-finals or Finals at home. Surely if everyone wants South Africans to “take the competition seriously” then they must make South Africans feel welcome, allow them to share in the revenue, and give them the same levels of access as the teams from the other countries. Just a reminder that South Africa has a large and passionate Rugby audience. Just by virtue of our teams being a part of these competitions means that more of us are likely to watch the knockout games, even if our teams haven’t qualified. It would be silly to alienate such a large audience by making them feel unwelcome.
18 Go to commentsFirst of all. This guy is very much behind the curve. All the bleating, whingeing, whining and moaning took place days ago already. Not adding anything to the topic other than more bleating, whingeing, whining and moaning. 🍼 Second of all, not one mention of the fact that South African teams can’t get home semi finals or finals. The tournament was undermined and devalued by the administrators. 🤡 Thirdly, football teams often have to juggle selections in mid week games, premier games, champions league games etc. and will from time to time prioritize certain titles over others. 🐒 And lastly FEK Neil, and anyone else for that matter, for insisting on telling teams how to manage themselves. If they make what is largely a business decision that suits them and doesn’t suit you - tough shite. 💩 It’s not rocket science as to why the Bulls did what they did. If this guy is too slow to figure it out (and is deliberately not mentioning one of the key reasons why) then he isn’t a journalist. He should join the rest of us pundit plebs in comments section. 🥴
18 Go to commentsSo the first door to knock on Rob is Parliament followed by HMRC. The Irish Revenue deliver a 40% tax relief rebate on the HIGHEST EARNING TEN YEARS of every pro Irish rugby players contract earnings at retirement. That goes a long way to both retaining their best talent and freeing up wages for marquee players. Who knows, if that had been in place in the UK, you might not have been able to poach Hoggy and Jonny Gray from Glasgow…!!!
3 Go to comments1. True, if that “free” ticket means access to all but the prized exhibit - EVIP only. SA cannot host semis, even if they’ve earned it (see Sharks vs ASM Clermont Auvergne at… Twickenham Stoop). 2. Why no selective outrage over Lyon doing the exact same thing a week earlier? Out of all the countries France send the most “B teams”, why nobody talking about “disrespect” and “prioritising domestic leagues” and “kicking them out”? 3. Why no mention of the Sharks fielding all of their Springboks for the second rate Challenge cup QF? No commitment? 4. Why no mention of all the SA teams qualifying for respective euro knock out comps in the two seasons they’ve been in it? How many euro teams have qualified for KO’s in their history? Can’t compete? 5. Why no mention of SA teams beating French and English giants La Rochelle and Saracens? How many euro teams have done that in their history? Add no quality? The fact is that SA teams are only in their second season in europe, with no status and a fraction of the resources. Since joining the URC, SA has seen a repatriation of a number of players, and this will only grow once SA start sharing in the profits of competing in these comps, meaning bigger squads with greater depth and quality, meaning they don’t have to prioritise comps as they have to now - they don’t have imports from Pacifica and South America and everywhere else in between like “European” teams have - also less “Saffas” in Prem and T14, that’s what we want right? 'If the South Africans are in, they need to be all in' True, and we have to ensure we give them the same status and resources as we give everyone else to do just that. A small compromise on scheduling will go a long way in avoiding these situations, but guess what, France and England wont compromise on scheduling because they ironically… prioritise their domestic comps, go figure!
18 Go to commentsthe success of the premiership can be summarized by : only 10 teams. It makes a huge difference with the overcrowded top 14 (let us not talk about Leinster and URC…)
1 Go to commentsGood for him. The ABs were fooling around again with converted fullbacks that had a penetration of a marshmallow. Laumape or as Aki has shown for Ireland, go forward is important in the centres. If it had been DMac - Aki- Aumua - Ioane- Telea- Jordan in France the final result would have been different.
4 Go to commentsDan Carter a apporté son professionnalisme, des méthodes de travail, un esprit qui manquaient à l’USAP. Son influence, même une fois blessé a été énorme. Et pour citer une anecdote, certains soirs il venait de lui-même à l’entraînement des jeunes pour dispenser ses conseils. On ne peut pas compter ce qu’il a apporté au club en heures de jeu sur le terrain. Est-ce que le club en a eu pour son argent ? Avec la publicité sur son nom et le titre, je suppose que oui.
1 Go to commentsThe SA sides are suffering from a bum rap here. There isn’t a side anywhere in the world that would do things differently in their shoes. They’ve been set up to fail in the EPCR comps by vested interests, with last minute intercontinental travel requirements that costs an arm and a leg to book in advance just on the possibility they might be required. And the total nonsense that denies any chance of home venues is entirely biased and absolutely unsporting. Either EPCR, the Top14 & the Gallagher Premiership get it sorted on a fair and equitable sporting basis for ALL participants or expect the ridicule to continue. Right now, these comps are a joke!
18 Go to commentsSA sides should do the right thing and leave the champions cup, they are lowering the standard with completely one sided games, not up to the right level. The greatest club tournament in the world is being banjaxed by the weak SA sides.
18 Go to commentsCouldnt agree more. SA sides need to show more committment and really have a go at the Champions Cup. Its quite possibly the most prestigious title in Europe and SA sides need to respect that prestige and serve up their best. EPCR needs to do more to ensure that sides from South Africa and sides travelling to and from SA have a better chance in this competition. The Bulls were put in a really difficult position of having to travel there and back in one week. One could argue that this is what the SA sides signed up for and that La Rochelle didnt complain or send out weakened sides despite having to travel to SA and back and play on successive weekends but surely the situation is also unfair on La Rochelle as well and so EPCR needs to think about successive gameweeks and the travel effect of the competition
18 Go to commentsI hadn’t watched much Canes this season but sat through a replay of that Chiefs game with no distractions. That pack is beastly. I really like the look of Iose. He loves the tough stuff. The first Quins clip may be the best I have even seen for a TH driving his opposite into oblivion. i need to take your word for the contribution of Walker, but Collier there with a straight back pushing up from under was a lovely thing to see. Have you fallen in love with Baxter also, Nick? I think Stuart Barnes may have written his column about him recently, naked. He positively frothed.
15 Go to commentsSmart guy. I wish he was running the RFU or something!
3 Go to commentsWhy Barrett, when Leinster already have at least 4 top centres.?
15 Go to comments