“What I like about Sam Prendergast is, he is far from the finished article by by any stretch of the imagination.”
Despite a few defensive errors throughout Ireland’s Six Nations clash with Wales on Saturday, Sam Prendergast came up with big moments which ultimately had a huge say in his side’s victory.
He had a number of kicks out of hand which put huge pressure on the Welsh, most notably a spiralled 50:22 which led to Jamie Osborne’s try that put Ireland back on level terms.
This was followed by a long-range penalty kick that increased Ireland’s lead to six points.
Prendergast did have his poorest mistakes of the game towards the end, when he sent a clearance kick out on the full giving the home side field position inside the Ireland 22, almost leading to a try.
Speaking on The Rugby Pod with Jim Hamilton and Andy Goode, ex-Wales out-half Dan Biggar had huge praise for Prendergast, and singled out his ability to bounce back calmly after making an error.
Biggar said: “What I like about Sam Prendergast is, he is far from the finished article by by any stretch of the imagination.
“He does make a few errors, there’s no disputing that, but he brings so many good moments, and on the weekend at the end of the day he’s kicked a range penalty.
“The Principality Stadium is not a small pitch, and he had, with that one from about 49 metres, he had sort of four or five metres left on it.
“But he’s involved in big moments in the games. You look at the first three games, he’s involved in running the shape, he’s involved in big kicks, he’s involved in try assists.
“And that 50:22 on the weekend changed the course of the game as well, it shifted the momentum for Ireland, and then yes he puts one out on the full 10 minutes later or whatever, but what I like about him is he’s got that ability to not worry and not get flustered if he makes mistakes.”
He added: “Goodie, you know what it’s like when you’re spiralling the ball, especially at international rugby, you know you’re confident then, don’t you?
“That’s a confident kicker, that’s a confident player kicking the ball when you’re doing that, and that’s what he looks like to me.
“He looks as if he doesn’t mind putting the odd one out of the full or, you know, the odd handling error or whatever it is.”
