The U20 Six Nations has long been a pivotal stage for emerging talent across all the competing nations, but arguably even more so for Ireland’s consistently fruitful pathway. It’s been no different for fly-half Prendergast, who took a significant leap when he emerged as the standout player in last year’s tournament – one which ultimately saw him named Player of the Championship as Ireland’s green sweep led to a consecutive Grand Slam.
“The U20s is the pinnacle of age grade rugby in Ireland,” is how Prendergast, 20, sees it. “Growing up playing for your province’s age grade teams, you’re looking forward to maybe getting called into the Ireland U18s, but the goal is to play for the U20s. You’re looking at who your competition is for your position. A lot of focus is put on it, and it turned out to be a very enjoyable experience.”
Years from now, people will refer back to that Sonny Bill Williams tweet (“Sam Prendergast. Remember that name my friends”) from last year’s U20 Championship, which brought the strapping fly-half to the attention of rugby fans the world over. That recognition, and with the individual accolade he received at the end of the tournament, are nice things for Prendergast, but they’re not what he’s about.
The way he puts it: “The award was nice to get, but it’s obviously easier for me playing at out-half with such a powerful pack in front of me, and then the lads outside me were very good. That made it a lot easier, being in a good side.”
Prendergast’s prowess on the U20s stage is a testament to the importance of this level in player development. Young players get to hone their technical abilities, navigate the intensity of international competition, and lay the groundwork for future success. For fans, it provides a glimpse of the future stars of international rugby.
“We had challenging moments from the first game,” recalls the Kildare native. “Everyone was a bit nervous going into it because it’s the unknown – maybe only two or three lads had played in the U20 Six Nations before, the rest of us hadn’t.
“You don’t know what Wales are going to be like, and we didn’t have a great first half and we knew it was going to be tough over in Colwyn Bay. We ended up pulling it out in the second half. From then on, we knew what we could do, and what we needed to do. It was our first real challenge and that just continued from there.”
Covid disrupted the age-grade competitions significantly, meaning Prendergast and his teammates didn’t have the familiarity of U18s international rugby to fall back on. After his U20s experiences, he now counts among his closest friends players from across the provinces.
It’s worth remembering that the U20s is a testing ground not just for players, but for some of the nations’ most promising coaches too. He namechecks the Ireland U20s duo of head coach Richie Murphy and attack coach Mark Sexton as being crucial to his and the team’s success. “Mark had also had a massive influence on me the year before when I played in the U20 Six Nations Summer Series,” says Prendergast of Sexton, who’s now on the coaching team at Connacht. “He’s been so good for me, works so hard and never leaves a stone unturned and does everything with you. He’s been so influential with his knowledge of the game and what he’s taught me.”
All this meant that, after Ireland had positively stormed their way to the U20 Six Nations title, Prendergast was more prepared for the demands of life as a Leinster player. “I had no experience of playing with Leinster beforehand, but I’d trained with them a good bit before the 20s,” he explains. “The 20s allowed me to go into an environment where you’re prepping for big games week in and week out, where the coaching was brilliant.”
Unsurprisingly, he has thrived being amongst the elite athletes at Leinster. So much so, in fact, that he was recognised with a call-up to Andy Farrell’s squad for this year’s Guinness Men’s Six Nations as a ‘training panellist’.
“Just being involved in that squad,” he says, trailing off for a moment. “It’s such a good team with such good coaches. I’ve trained with a lot of the lads with Leinster, but it’s unbelievable just to be involved with that squad. It’s very exciting.”
He won’t be forgetting about his mates in the age grade though. Asked for a player to look out for in this year’s U20 Six Nations, he names one of the stars of the 2023 campaign, Connacht centre Hugh Gavin: “He’d kill me if I didn’t say to keep an eye on him! I roomed with him for the whole of last year and he’s a very good player.”
You get the feeling that, for Prendergast and that special U20 Class of 2023, the sky is the limit.
