Prendergast brothers are powering up Leinster-Connacht provincial rivalry

In the history of Irish rugby, and certainly in the professional era, it’s doubtful that two siblings have had such a profound influence on two rival provincial teams, and certainly not in such markedly contrasting ways.One is the skipper and standard-bearer on both the training ground and in matches, with his unrelenting professionalism, leadership and level of performance. He is Connacht’s heartbeat from the backrow. His brother is the creative hub of his Leinster side, an elegant, visionary playmaking outhalf blessed with ice in his veins on the gain line and footballing and handling skills to match. The former tackles big and hard ... eh, that wouldn’t be the latter’s most obvious virtue. If they didn’t look like each other, you wouldn’t even think they were distant cousins.The pity is that next Friday’s URC game at the Dexcom Stadium, although still expected to be a 12,500 sell-out, has been denied the presence of Connacht’s eight-strong Irish contingent as well as the 17 Leinster players in Andy Farrell’s squad for the forthcoming Nations Championship.With Jack Crowley on the sidelines, naturally most pundits and supporters will lament being denied an early-season showdown between Ciarán Frawley and Sam Prendergast following the former’s stunning start to his career as a bona fide outhalf at Connacht.READ MOREMaybe it’s the Galway air, maybe it’s Stuart Lancaster, maybe it’s just how he feels among his new team-mates and having nailed his colours to the mast. Most likely it’s a combination of all of the above and more. In any event, Frawley looks like a player transformed.But while nothing generates such heated debate as those concerning outhalf rivalries, and Frawley v the younger Prendergast would have been the game’s most-discussed shoot-out, watching the older Prendergast against the younger Prendergast would have been quite something too.Curiously, they have not played against each other or alongside each other that much, and that also goes for their childhood years when they can recall only playing once on the same Gaelic football team. Ask AI and it will tell you that they have played against each other three times, but that includes two Leinster-Connacht matches in Galway in which Sam did not take part, while also missing one in which they did. Who would have thought AI might be so unreliable?Leinster's Sam Prendergast and Connacht's Cian Prendergast after their URC match in the RDS on May 31st, 2024. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho Their first “clash” per se was in Leinster’s 33-7 win over Connacht at the RDS in May 2024 when both started, the younger brother converting four of his side’s five tries.Both started again when the provinces met at the Aviva Stadium in early January last season, when the brothers both seemed notably more animated than usual, most obviously when Sam scored Leinster’s third try to put them 19-17 up at half-time. It seemed, well, the kind of personalised rivalries that only brothers can have.Connacht really put it up to Leinster that night, but that try was a turning point as the younger Prendergast converted four of Leinster’s five second-half tries in a 17-point contribution to their 52-17 win.[ Leinster punish deflated Connacht with eight-try Aviva demolitionOpens in new window ]Again, strikingly at odds with the “three occasions” when they have shared the pitch for Ireland, the actual figure is five times. They first played together against Fiji in November 2024 when Sam started and Cian was on the bench. Both came on together for the final 30 minutes against Japan last November, before Sam started and Cian was on the bench against Australia and South Africa.Their last outing together, and the only time they both started, was on that Thursday night Six Nations opener away to France last February. When Cian was recalled against England in round three, Sam had fallen out of the match-day squad, so one hopes they have happier shared experiences in the future for Ireland.Ireland's Cian Prendergast and Sam Prendergast before the Six Nations round one match between France and Ireland in Paris on February 5th. Photograph: Ben Brady/Inpho When Sam also lost his starting place for Leinster and also dropped out of the their match-day squad for the Champions Cup Round of 16, quarter-final and final in Bordeaux, it looked like his season had turned more or less to dust. His Six Nations experience especially appeared to have damaged his confidence, understandably, and it seemed like he was trying to force things a bit too much.But his resilience then shone through as he used the time on the training ground to redesign his kicking technique with a new tee and rebuild his confidence, reminding Leo Cullen and co of his abilities in a game against the Lions and subsequently starting all three knockout games as Leinster retained their URC title.A striking feature of his play this season has been the revival in his running game to augment his vision and creativity, as evidenced by the pivotal length-of-the-pitch try against Clermont in the Stade Michelin.[ Sam Prendergast plays starring role as Leinster secure bonus-point win over ClermontOpens in new window ]We should, of course, never have doubted his resilience and strength of character. A cursory glance at his older brother’s career would have assured us of that.Over the last seven seasons, the older Prendergast has evolved into their most obvious captain, as if he was born to be a leader of Connacht. Privately, key figures in Leinster must wonder if he was one that got away, but Cian’s sense of debt to Connacht after not making it at his home province is palpable and deep.Amid the post-match exuberance in the Stadio Monigo away dressing-room after Frawley’s late second try had secured a dramatic 22-19 bonus point win over Benetton, one dissenting voice was the captain.“We definitely didn’t deserve to win it,” he began. “But look, a win is a win is a win. Obviously we reckon we could have delivered a better performance, but it’s just a really tough ground to come to.”He hailed a couple of first-phase tries, less so their scrum and maul, and error count, and rightly so. “We can’t keep defending for that long.”Informed of Cian’s post-match reaction on the Second Captains podcast, his former team-mate Jack Carty laughed. “Typical Cian,” he said, but that tells us much. More than any Connacht player, Cian Prendergast will not accept standards slipping.Sure, other brothers have had bigger careers than the Prendergasts to date, such as Rob and Dave Kearney, but they played for the same province. None have had such a profound influence on two rival provincial teams and that is only likely to increase over the coming years.And while it’s a pity that they’re not going head-to-head next Friday night, there might be two people among the 12,500 capacity crowd who would be relieved it hasn’t come to pass, namely their parents, Ciara and Mark.gerry.thornley@irishtimes.com