{"id":647188,"date":"2026-10-07T05:40:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-07T05:40:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/647188\/"},"modified":"2026-10-07T05:40:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T05:40:14","slug":"mike-prendergast-munster-were-going-in-a-different-direction-to-where-i-wanted-to-go-as-a-coach-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/647188\/","title":{"rendered":"Mike Prendergast: \u2018Munster were going in a different direction to where I wanted to go as a coach\u2019 \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

Two games into his new role at Bath, Mike Prendergast<\/a> has the air of a man enjoying his work.<\/p>\n

Now working under another former Munster<\/a> figure in Johann van Graan<\/a>, Prendergast swapped Thomond Park for The Rec last summer, leading the backs and attack at the west country club.<\/p>\n

A fortnight into the new campaign, Bath have two wins, 73 points on the scoreboard and 10 league points that has them joint top of the table. Early days and all that, but with the likes of Finn Russell and Santi Carreras running in scores, it\u2019s easy to see why an attack coach would enjoy such surroundings.<\/p>\n

All of which explains the pull of a side like Bath, but not the push factors that opened up the opportunity. When Prendergast left Munster, he still had a year left on his contract. He was on the coaching ticket when Munster won the 2023 URC.<\/p>\n

While overlooked for his home province\u2019s head coach role, Clayton McMillan<\/a> instead proving the final choice, Prendergast was held in sufficient regard to be asked by the IRFU to coach Ireland A back in 2025.<\/p>\n

Clearly, there was a reason for the former scrumhalf to decide to leave Irish rugby. One theory was that in any walk of life it can be difficult to work with someone appointed to a role for which you unsuccessfully applied, but Prendergast quickly pushes back on any such notions.<\/p>\n

\"\"Irish 10s steal the limelight on an encouraging URC weekend<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was nothing to do with that in terms of Clayton getting the job and me not,\u201d he says. \u201cIt\u2019s like anything in professional sport, if you sit around and feel sorry for yourself, that will be picked up very quickly. I\u2019m a professional coach, I\u2019ve got to do what\u2019s best for myself and the team and that\u2019s what I did last season.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had four years back in Munster, I played there, it was my home club. I\u2019d brilliant memories, good success as a player. I went off to France for 10 years, came back to Munster and really enjoyed the first couple of years. The last season or so was less enjoyable and I probably felt I needed a change personally.<\/p>\n

\"BathBath attack coach Mike Prendergast during the warm-up. Photograph: Ben Brady\/Inpho <\/p>\n

\u201cI knew Johann [van Graan] through coaching against him, I knew Finn [Russell, the two previously worked together in France with Racing] and had that connection. I had conversations and felt that at this stage of my career it was the right move for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prendergast was subsequently asked why the last year was not as enjoyable as what went before. Was it a problem with the style of play or something away from the coaching ticket? Munster have dealt with a number of off-field matters in recent times, not least an independent review into their governance and the recent resignation of chief executive Ian Flanagan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll be honest with you, certain people in the club wanted to go one direction and that wasn\u2019t the direction I wanted to go in,\u201d says Prendergast, without naming individuals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had no muddied waters with anyone at all. I went in and spoke to the club, spoke to Clayton and I said I think it\u2019s time for a change. He said \u2018Look, I know you\u2019ll work to the end of the season and move on\u2019 and that\u2019s the way it was. There was a direction certain people were going in and that\u2019s not the direction that I wanted to go in as a coach.\u201d<\/p>\n

Once the decision was made to leave, the link to Van Graan and Bath came into view, even if Prendergast never actually overlapped with the former Munster boss in Limerick. Russell also proved a useful sounding board, given the strong relationship between an attack coach and outhalf who have previously worked together.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve known him [Van Graan] for a couple of years, we had a chat about it,\u201d explains Prendergast. \u201cHe outlined exactly what was here in the club, the set-up etc, the squad. It appealed to me quite a lot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWith an attack coach, the 10 is always someone you\u2019ll have a close link with. I still keep in contact with number 10s that I coached back in Grenoble 10, 12 years ago. I\u2019m sure most attack coaches will tell you the same, they\u2019re nearly like your little son as such. You always keep those relationships and I\u2019ve a very strong relationship with Finn.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe spoke highly of the club and I see that now I\u2019ve been over here in the last couple of months.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Two games into his new role at Bath, Mike Prendergast has the air of a man enjoying his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":647189,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[61,60,59894,11897,112],"class_list":["post-647188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-mike-prendergast","tag-munster-rugby","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647188","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=647188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/647188\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647189"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=647188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=647188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=647188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}