Sam Prendergast can potentially make his Ireland debut during the November Internationals after being called up to Andy Farrell's squad last week following an impressive tour with Emerging Ireland in South Africa.
The Kildare man has been the talk of Irish rugby for some time and now looks to be a first team regular as he came back into the starting lineup for Leinster after starting all three matches in South Africa on the Emerging Ireland tour.
The 21-year old slotted a penalty as well as 2 conversions in a 64-minute cameo as Leinster kept their 100% URC record going by beating the Lions 24-6 in the Aviva Stadium.
It wasn't as straightforward a win as Leinster were hoping for as despite having most of the possession and territory Leinster didn't get the bonus point as they only got three tries through Josh van der Flier, Caelan Doris and a penalty try in the final play of the game.
"It's Another Really Positive Step" Cullen Praises Sam Prendergast After Another URC Victory
It's quite telling that through the first six rounds of the URC, Leo Cullen has started Ciarán Frawley and Sam Prendergast more than Ross Byrne, who has been subject to the bench in all but one game so far this season, perhaps signalling a changing of the guard for Leinster after Byrne was the first choice 10 for most of last season.
Speaking after their victory over the Lions, Leinster Head Coach Leo Cullen spoke about Prendergast's progression this season.
As a young player, Sam is 21 years of age, so you’re getting to the level of physicality of the game where you have bigger bodies running at you. He dealt with that pretty well I thought.
He had to ship a couple of knocks and as we ran out for the second half, obviously the conditions deteriorated a little bit, but I think we managed the start of that second half pretty well. Listen, overall it’s another really positive step in his development as a young 10.
It will be interesting to see what Andy Farrell chooses to do with Prendergast over this International window. This four-match series against the All Blacks, Argentina, Fiji and Australia should give Farrell ample opportunities to bleed Prendergast into the Irish system and give the youngster hist first of potentially many caps to come.
