{"id":137344,"date":"2025-11-13T09:57:12","date_gmt":"2025-11-13T09:57:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/137344\/"},"modified":"2025-11-13T09:57:12","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T09:57:12","slug":"getting-bogged-down-by-outhalf-rotation-is-selfish-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/137344\/","title":{"rendered":"Getting bogged down by outhalf rotation is selfish \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

They were far from the first brothers to play for Ireland<\/a> when they came on in the second half of last week\u2019s match against Japan at the Aviva Stadium.<\/p>\n

The surnames Kearney, Wallace, Easterby and Best predate Sam<\/a> and Cian Prendergast as members of Ireland\u2019s ever-expanding band of brothers, which stretches right back into the 19th century. <\/p>\n

According to the IRFU, the Prendergasts were the 57th sibling pairing to represent their country. A match during Ireland\u2019s 2000 summer tour saw two sets of brothers take to the field \u2013 Paul and David Wallace playing alongside Simon and Guy Easterby as Ireland pummelled the USA 83-3. <\/p>\n

But the early lunchtime start for last weekend\u2019s Japan game conspired to make it a different kind of day for Leinster outhalf Sam and Connacht flanker Cian.<\/p>\n

\u201cAfter the final whistle goes, you\u2019re like, \u2018oh, that was pretty cool\u2019, and you go up and see how happy it\u2019s made your family,\u201d says Sam.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a nice dinner after. That\u2019s the benefit of the early kick-off, that we actually got to spend some time together as a family and it was a kind of special 24 hours.\u201d<\/p>\n

A win over Australia would make Saturday special in a different way \u2013 lift a little pressure, firm up the confidence, secure bragging rights over a Joe Schmidt<\/a> team, and maybe, if Sam starts and puts in a good shift at outhalf it will get him a nose ahead of Munster\u2019s Jack Crowley<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The young kickers have had to become familiar with rotating roles and not allowing it to become a point of friction. Ambition and drive keeps the relationship competitive, but they\u2019ve found an equilibrium to keep relations positive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf either of us are getting bogged down by the rotation over the last year, it\u2019s selfish,\u201d says Prendergast. \u201cAs in, we\u2019d both say we\u2019re being selfish. I think we both agree that it\u2019s important we stay positive and both just try to contribute to the team.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought Jack has played very well the first two games and he started the season really well. We both get along and we share the same ambitions, so it\u2019s not that hard to get on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"SamSam Prendergast in action against Japan. Photograph: Billy Stickland\/Inpho <\/p>\n

Nonetheless, selfish is an important ingredient in what can make a player better. A large part of rugby life revolves around training, nutrition, mentality and performance. Many of the choices Prendergast makes are made for just one person.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I suppose,\u201d he says. \u201cBut in terms of getting bogged down by it and impacting your day-to-day. Impacting your day-to-day is probably stopping you from getting better as a player.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crowley started against the All Blacks and Japan, making it likely that Prendergast will wear 10 on Saturday against the Wallabies.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou always want to start,\u201d he says. \u201cI think there\u2019s probably five or six flyhalves in Ireland who want to start those games and yeah, it can be frustrating.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s about not letting it eat you up because all you can do is stay positive, try to improve every day and, if you keep doing that, then you hope the big picture things take care of themselves.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prendergast was less than happy with his short cameo against the All Blacks. A few errors were not the input he had hoped for, but he\u2019s not the type to let it chew him up. Parking issues and ploughing on are part of his skill set.<\/p>\n

The conversations he has had with Ireland head coach Andy Farrell<\/a> have centred around playing with courage and boldness, flying in the face of the temptation to shrink back and become more of a conduit than a playmaker.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think [Farrell] just wants to see me playing with a bit of confidence and going and taking things on,\u201d says Prendergast. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not necessarily about being perfect, but it\u2019s about looking to do the right thing and not putting restrictions on yourself. I always find that refreshing, so it\u2019s good.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnyone who\u2019s ever spoken about Andy has said how the brain he has for rugby is brilliant, and also his emotional intelligence. <\/p>\n

\u201cAny kind of conversations around the game, whether it be mental or strategic, it is always beneficial for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

If selected for his 12th cap on Saturday, Australia will be the first nation Prendergast has played against twice. Currently four caps ahead of his brother, this weekend could present yet be another family affair at the Aviva.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They were far from the first brothers to play for Ireland when they came on in the second…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":137345,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,1449,43771,12918,112,53328],"class_list":["post-137344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-ireland-rugby","tag-jack-crowley","tag-sam-prendergast","tag-sports","tag-wallabies"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137344","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=137344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/137344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/137345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=137344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=137344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=137344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}