Sam Prendergast (born 12 February 2003) is an Irish

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who plays as a

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

for

Leinster Rugby Leinster Rugby () is one of the four professional provincial club rugby union teams from the island of Ireland. They compete in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the Leinster Branch, one of t ...

and for the

Ireland national rugby union team The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual Six Nations Champio ...

Early life

Prendergast attended

Newbridge College Newbridge College (), the Dominican College Newbridge, is a co-educational private fee-paying voluntary secondary school in Newbridge, County Kildare, Ireland, run by the Roman Catholic Dominican Order. The Dominican Friars founded Newbridge Dom ...

Newbridge, County Kildare Newbridge, officially known by its Irish language, Irish name Droichead Nua (), is a town in County Kildare, Ireland. While the nearby Great Connell Priory was founded in the 13th century, the town itself formed from the 18th century onwards, an ...

where he played as a scrum-half before he had a growth spurt. He played in 2020 as the school secured a place in the Leinster Senior Schools Cup final against Clongowes Wood. However, the final was never played due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. He went on to study marketing at

Technological University Dublin Technological University Dublin () or TU Dublin is Ireland's first technological university. It was established on 1 January 2019, with a history going back to 1887 through the amalgamated Dublin Institute of Technology which progressed from t ...

Club career

Prendergast started his rugby at Cill Dara RFC youths and played his club rugby at Newbridge RFC and

Lansdowne FC Lansdowne Football Club, is a rugby union team based in Dublin, Ireland. Called Football Club instead of Rugby Football Club due to being founded before the formation of the IRFU. It was founded in 1872 by Henry Dunlop as the ''Irish Champion Ath ...

and joined the

academy in 2022. Prendergast was selected for the Leinster first team in the

United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...

against the

Lions The lion (''Panthera leo'') is a large cat of the genus ''Panthera'', native to Sub-Saharan Africa and India. It has a muscular, broad-chested body; a short, rounded head; round ears; and a dark, hairy tuft at the tip of its tail. It is se ...

on Saturday April 15, 2023. He was awarded player of the match for his debut performance which involved successfully kicking six out of seven attempts including a late penalty with the scores tied to secure the win for his side. In May 2024, discussions took place for a move to

Connacht Connacht or Connaught ( ; or ), is the smallest of the four provinces of Ireland, situated in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, C ...

on loan, where he would have the opportunity to play alongside his brother at club level and provide injury cover for

JJ Hanrahan John Joseph Hanrahan (born 27 July 1992) is an Irish rugby union player who plays for Munster in the United Rugby Championship. He plays primarily as a fly-half, but can also play as a centre or fullback. Early years Hanrahan began playing ru ...

. Ultimately, he did not take up the opportunity. On 8 December 2024, he scored two tries and five conversions in the opening round of the 2024–25 Champions Cup as Leinster went to beat

Bristol Bears Bristol Bears (officially Bristol Rugby Club or Bristol Rugby) are a professional rugby union club based in Bristol, England. They play in Premiership Rugby, England's top division of rugby. The club was founded as Bristol Football Club in 18 ...

35–12 at Ashton Gate. The following week he won man of the match in the opening home game of the campaign beating

Clermont Auvergne Association Sportive Montferrandaise Clermont Auvergne () is a French professional rugby union club from Clermont-Ferrand in Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes that currently competes in Top 14, the top level of the French league system. Clermont are two t ...

15–7.

International career

Under-20 team

Prendergast kicked a late long-distance penalty to clinch a series victory for Ireland under-20s over England over-20s in July 2022. He kicked another late penalty in February 2023 as Ireland under-20s beat France under-20s in the

2023 Six Nations Under 20s Championship The 2023 Six Nations Under 20s Championship was the 16th Six Nations Under 20s Championship, the annual northern hemisphere rugby union championship for players under 20 years of age. Ireland retained the championship, their fifth, winning all f ...

. He was singled out for praise for his performances during the tournament. Praise has also come from former Ireland international

Andrew Trimble Andrew Trimble (born 20 October 1984) is a former Irish rugby union player who played for Ulster and represented Ireland at international level. Club career He attended Coleraine Academical Institution, where he competed in the Ulster Schoo ...

, former New Zealand international

Sonny Bill Williams Sonny William Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for the cou ...

, and he was identified by

BBC Sport BBC Sport is the sports division of the BBC, providing national sports coverage for BBC BBC Television, television, BBC Radio, radio and BBC Online, online. The BBC holds the television and radio UK broadcasting rights to several sports, broadc ...

as one of the stars of the 2023 under-20 Six Nations tournament. He was named in the Ireland squad for the

2023 World Rugby U20 Championship The 2023 World Rugby U20 Championship was the 13th edition of the premier age-grade rugby union competition. The tournament is hosted in South Africa for the second time, previously being held in 2012. The 2023 under 20 competition (alongside ...

held in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

in June and July 2023.

Emerging Ireland

Prendergast was picked in an

Emerging Ireland Emerging Ireland is an Irish international rugby union team that represents Irish Rugby Football Union, Ireland in selected matches, tours and competitions. Composed of Ireland qualified players only, mostly uncapped or at the beginning of their c ...

squad in October 2024 to play three test matches in the 2024

Toyota Challenge The Toyota Challenge is a rugby union competition hosted in South Africa by the Cheetahs, a team sponsored by Toyota SA. The first tournament took place at the Toyota Stadium in Bloemfontein between 13 November and 26 November 2021. In 2021, f ...

. He started all three matches against the Pumas, the

Cheetahs The cheetah (''Acinonyx jubatus'') is a large cat and the fastest land animal. It has a tawny to creamy white or pale buff fur that is marked with evenly spaced, solid black spots. The head is small and rounded, with a short snout and blac ...

and the

Western Force The Western Force is an Australian professional rugby union team based in Perth, Western Australia, currently competing in Super Rugby, Super Rugby Pacific. They previously played in Super Rugby from 2006 until they were axed from the competitio ...

Men's team

Prendergast was selected for the 2024 Six Nations squad as a training panellist, alongside

Munster Munster ( or ) is the largest of the four provinces of Ireland, located in the south west of the island. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" (). Following the Nor ...

players

Oli Jager Oliver G.J.T. Jager (born 5 July 1995) is an Irish rugby union player who currently plays as a prop for Munster. Previously he represented in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup and the in the international Super Rugby competition. In Novembe ...

and Thomas Ahern. The three did not participate in any test matches during the

2024 Six Nations Championship The 2024 Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Men's Six Nations for sponsorship reasons) was a rugby union competition that took place in February and March 2024, and featured the men's national teams of England national rugby union tea ...

, however they were included in pre-tournament training camps. He was called up to the senior Ireland squad for the 2024 Autumn internationals. He made his senior debut as a second-half replacement for Ireland's match against

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

on 15 November 2024. He was named in the starting XV for his first senior international start for Irelands match against

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

on 23 November 2024. During his first international start, a 52–17 win, he was sin binned for a high tackle before scoring five conversions and having the opportunity to play alongside his brother for the first time at international level as he came off the bench. On 1 February 2025, he made his tournament debut in the opening round of the

2025 Six Nations The 2025 Men's Six Nations Championship (known as the Guinness Men's Six Nations for sponsorship reasons and branded as M6N) was a rugby union competition that took place from late January to mid-March 2025, featuring the men's national teams of E ...

in a 27–22 win over

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. In the following round he won man of the match during a 32–18 away victory over

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

. Following this performance he won player of the round during a fan vote conducted by the tournament organisers.

Style of play

Gerry Thornley in

The Irish Times ''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It was launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is Ireland's leading n ...

compared Prendergast with

Stephen Larkham Stephen Larkham (born 29 May 1974) is a retired Australians, Australian rugby union professional player, currently in the role of head coach for Brumbies. He spent his career with the Brumbies (rugby), Brumbies in Super Rugby, for whom he playe ...

due to his "tall, languid style and passing range". He says that he has been heavily influenced by Johnny Sexton as he had watched him for years and is now helping at the Ireland camp for the flyhalfs.

Personal life

He is the younger brother of

Connacht Rugby Connacht Rugby is one of the four professional provincial men's rugby union, rugby teams from the island of Ireland. Connacht competes in the United Rugby Championship and the European Rugby Champions Cup. The team represents the IRFU Connacht B ...

and

Ireland Rugby The Ireland national rugby union team is the men's representative national team for the island of Ireland in rugby union. The team represents both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Ireland competes in the annual Six Nations Champio ...

international Cian Prendergast.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prendergast, Sam 2003 births Living people Leinster Rugby players Rugby union fly-halves Irish rugby union players Rugby union players from County Kildare Ireland international rugby union players 21st-century Irish sportsmen