Ireland overcame Fiji 52-17 in their most complete performance of the Autumn Nations Series on Saturday Afternoon in the Aviva Stadium.
While in reality, overcoming Fiji was never going to be the sternest of tests for this Ireland side, it was a stern test for many of Ireland's young stars who have very little game-time provincially never mind internationally.
That said, Sam Prendergast, Cormac Izuchukwu and Gus McCarthy were undoubtedly some of Ireland's stand-out performers on Saturday afternoon.
Leinster's Sam Prendergast made just his second Ireland appearance, twenty-second professional appearance and first Ireland start, yet his appearance vs Fiji seems to be turning back even his most ardent of critics, with Jim Hamilton among those pedalling back his criticism of the 21-year-old.
Prendergast built on his twenty-minute cameo against Argentina with a solid eighty-minute performance against Fiji, where the young hot-shot delivered a promising first start, that featured some sensational kicks, a Sexton loop and plenty of late passes that split the Fijian defence wide open.
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Hamilton pedals back on Prendergast criticism
Scottish legend Jim Hamilton was among the few who criticised Sam Prendergast following his Ireland debut against Argentina, claiming he was 'way too small' and 'didn't look like he wanted to tackle'.
However, after seeing Saturday's performance against Fiji, Hamilton has done a complete 180 on his original opinion, hailing the Irish attack as being at its most prudent since Johnny Sexton's departure.
Speaking on his podcast The Rugby Pod, Hamilton hailed the young Ireland star as being 'the real deal' but stopped short of rowing back his fears about Prendergast's physicality.
I thought Sam Prendergast was brilliant, and I'm not saying that because I'm going back on comments made last week that he wasn't good enough.
Based on what I saw, I saw Sam Prendergast have a Johnny Sexton style attack feel about how he brough the other players in, ball at the line, the kickpass, the innovation that he showed, that's the best I've seen Ireland attack in a long, long time.
Is it because Fiji were poor, or is it because he was brilliant and his attacking style of play is exactly what Ireland need to get back to the level they were when Johnny Sexton was playing.
I still think there's question marks around that (his physicality), time will tell, but he looked the real deal of how he was playing and controlling the game at the line.
Hamilton's claim that the young out-half was exactly 'what Ireland needed' was in stark contrast to his claim that Prendergast 'ain't ready' just a week earlier.
While plenty of pundits have claimed Prendergast was lucky to see out the full game after his controversial yellow card, Hamilton has once again come in on the other side of popular opinion, claiming Prendergast's shoulder to the head was only deserving of a yellow.
I could go easy and say I didn't think it was a red card, I didn't look at that and go 'oh my god that's a red card'. I thought it was a yellow card, he got a yellow card.
Sam Prendergast's glittering start to life with Ireland now brings up its own issues within Irish rugby, not only is there little clarity on who should be Ireland's go-to-man to drive the country's attack, but Prendergast is now one of five competing out halves at provincial level, with big decisions lying in wait for Leo Cullen who will struggle to overlook the Newbridge man's performances in green.
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