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Many Ireland fans have the same complaint about Sam Prendergast
By Ian Cameron at Aviva Stadium, Dublin
Sam Prendergast has well and truly been cast as the fall guy following Ireland’s heavy, Grand Slam destroying loss to France at the Aviva Stadium.
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Late tries from Jack Conan and Cian Healy for Ireland put some gloss on the scoreboard [42-27], but in truth, this was a resounding and painful loss for the heretofore Six Nations favourites.
The performance of fly-half Prendergast has come in for some particularly heavy criticism online, with many bemoaning the “hype” around the player.
While he had a number of positive moments, landing a 50-plus metre penalty before half-time being one, overall it was a poor outing for the Leinster star, who looked fragile in defence and tried a little too hard to make things happen for Ireland in attack. An intercepted Prendergast pass on France’s line saw the visitors go the length of the pitch in the final throes of the game, capping off a day to forget for the former Ireland U20s star.
The standoff is now on the receiving end from an angry Irish rugby fanbase on social.
“Prendergast is clearly a very good player with a very, very high bar – but he’s getting away with murder with these missed kicks and tackles. I seriously doubt Crowley would get the same rope from the media,” said one irate fan.
Another fan queried: “Is Sam Prendergast the most overhyped player in any sport ever?,” while another posted: “The hype around Sam Prendergast is everything that’s wrong about Irish Rugby… in the words of Jimmy Sloyan simply not good enough.”
Other fans, mainly Munster ones, claim previous first choice Jack Crowley is being unfairly treated given the performance of the 21-year-old Prendergast against the French.
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“Can anyone really justify Sam Prendergast playing the full 80? The whole team were poor but for him to stay at 10 for the full 80 is just disgraceful. Crowley has been treated so, so poor [sic],” said another.
“We’re all clear now aren’t we?,” quipped another Munster fan. “The Prendergast experiment is an abject failure. As is the Leinsterfication of Ireland in the name of “cohesion”. This is the same team with Crowley at 10 went to Paris and won, btw.”
Another decried: “Commentator “Prendergast will learn more from this 60 minutes” Learn what? That he can’t tackle and chooses to kick when he doesn’t have to and that a spiral kick or long pass will have the media drooling despite this. Crowley won the Six Nations and dropped for a golden boy.”
Other fans came in to defend the Leinsterman, claiming the blame lies with Irish management.
“I want to say something in defence of Sam Prendergast. No 21-year-old, with only a dozen or so senior games, is ready to play outhalf at this level,” wrote an account. “The fault lies with the management team for anointing him and the rugby media for not questioning it.”
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With Italy in Rome on the immediate horizon and a Six Nations title on the line, who Simon Easterby selects at fly-half will certainly be the hot topic of debate in Irish rugby circles this weekend.
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