‘We’re not Johnny’ – Prendergast forging own path

Quilter Nations Series: Ireland v Australia

Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin Date: Saturday, 15 November Kick-off: 20:10 GMT

Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Sam Prendergast revealed the Fast & Furious films have been his go-to source of entertainment away from the rugby field recently.

An apt franchise, perhaps, for a player who has experienced an action-packed freshman year as an Irish international fly-half.

And given that Saturday’s game against Australia will mark exactly one year since Prendergast’s Ireland debut, the 22-year-old has been reflecting on the first stage of his Test journey.

“We had a good pre-season in Leinster, I took the first few weeks trying not to think about rugby and getting into a bit of training,” he said.

“I thought it was a good approach because I felt quite hungry coming into Leinster and then enjoyed the pre-season. The frustrating thing about that is it didn’t translate on the pitch to start the season off.

Prendergast was propelled into senior international rugby last year without having started a Champions Cup game for Leinster.

He usurped Jack Crowley, who played every minute of Ireland’s triumphant 2024 Six Nations campaign, and remained in situ for much of this year’s championship against the backdrop of a lively fly-half debate between Irish rugby fans online.

However, having started wins over England, Scotland and Wales, he was dropped following a dismal 42-27 defeat by France that ultimately wrecked Ireland’s bid for a third successive title.

Prendergast missed out on the British and Irish Lions squad and was unable to wrest the Ireland jersey away from Crowley for the All Blacks defeat in Chicago a fortnight ago and last week’s win over Japan.

“If either of us are getting bogged down by the rotation over the last year, I suppose it’s selfish, as in we’d both say we’re being selfish,” said Prendergast, who admitted he was “disappointed” with his performance off the bench against New Zealand.

“I think we both agree it’s important to stay positive and try to contribute to the team as best we can.

Prendergast and Crowley are working under legendary Ireland fly-half Johnny Sexton, who is with the Irish Rugby Football Union [IRFU] full-time after helping head coach Andy Farrell on a part-time basis last year.

Comparisons to Sexton are to be expected, but 11-cap Prendergast insists trying to imitate the former World Rugby Player of the Year is not the way forward for the current crop of Irish fly-halves.

“Johnny played for Ireland and Leinster for so long, I don’t think it’s going to work if we’re all trying to be like Johnny, because we’re not Johnny.

With the exception of Ciaran Frawley’s 29-minute cameo against Portugal in the summer, Ireland’s fly-half rotation has been restricted to Prendergast and Crowley.

That is in stark contrast to the Wallabies, who have fielded seven players in the position in 2025.

Following an injury to Noah Lolesio, Ben Donaldson, Tom Lynagh, James O’Connor, Tane Edmed and Hamish Stewart all had run-outs at 10 under Joe Schmidt before the code-crossing Carter Gordon returned for last weekend’s loss to Italy.

It was Gordon’s first Test since the 2023 Rugby World Cup after a spell with Gold Coast Titans in the National Rugby League, and the turbulent fly-half situation makes Australia harder to figure out for Prendergast.

“Carter Gordon’s just back from rugby league and I know he took a risk going to rugby league and it maybe didn’t work out because of injury.

“But I think it was a cool move for him and I’d say he learnt a lot and is coming back with a fresh perspective.

“It makes it a little bit harder but out-halves know the more you can play the better you can become from learning week on week.