Prendergast ‘excited’ by young talent
In his first interview since agreeing to rejoin Munster, MIKE PRENDERGAST explains how he has developed as a coach over a decade in France and why he is so excited by this new challenge
INCOMING Munster attack coach Mike Prendergast says he is hugely excited by the potential for the province ahead of his move home this summer.
The 45-year-old Limerick man and former Munster scrum-half is linking up with Graham Rowntree on a new-look coaching ticket next season and will join from French giants Racing 92.
And Prendergast says he is encouraged by the skill levels and high levels of fitness in this youthful Munster squad.
‘The profile of the players, that’s something that energises me and does excite as well, there’s very good profiles there in terms of, they are very skilful, they’re fit,’ said the Limerick native, who signed a three-year deal earlier this month.
‘Once they’re in place, that high level of fitness...then around that, you put in a framework and encourage good decision-making within that framework.
‘So, there’s lots of different types of systems you can play. It’s about the one that suits the type of players you have. I have an idea of what way I’d like Munster to play and I have that in my head now going in there and there is certain things you’ll tweak.’
In his first interview since he accepted the job, Prendergast explained why he was drawn to his home province after nine years coaching in France.
‘I’m from there, played all my rugby there. I was born in Limerick in a big rugby family so I know what it means to people, what it means to the supporters.’
AMyself and ROG would be good sounding boards for each other, it works well...
FTER nine years on the coaching beat in France, Mike Prendergast is returning to where it all began. Munster to his core, the Limerick native is coming home to join Graham Rowntree’s newlook coaching ticket in the summer. A highly-rated and highly respected operator, Prendergast honed his coaching craft at Grenoble, Oyonnax and Stade Francais before landing the big gig at Racing 92, working with superstars like Finn Russell, Gael Fickou and Virimi Vakatawa.
He is very much focused on the task at hand with the Parisian giants, the race for the Top14 playoffs are heating up, but the former Munster scrum-half is excited about the future. Earlier this week, the Irish Mail on Sunday caught up with him to talk past, present and future…
*** Rory Keane: So, how was the mood this week after the loss to La Rochelle?
Mike Prendergast: It’s been a tough week. It was a terrible match, terrible performance, indisciplined and just a tough one, to be honest with you.
You could feel it during the week. It was a tough enough one now, I won’t lie.
Sure look, the thing is there’s only two games in the Top14 left so you have to win at least one. It’s so tight this year. It’s unbelievable how tight it is. There’s not much room for error and we play Montpellier and then we play Toulon who are fighting to get into the top six as well and they’re coming very good over the last few months. There’s going to be a big team losing out in the top six – either La Rochelle, Racing or Toulouse. It’s very competitive here.
RK: It was such a strange game.
Two French heavyweights in a European semi-final. So many world class players, but it never caught fire? MP: It never did. It was like an old-school French Top14 game, it was just so stop-start.
Saying that, in the last 20 minutes, we had two clear opportunities close to the line. We take one of the them and I think it was game over. I think we would have had enough to win it out, but we didn’t and that’s just the harsh reality of it.
It was an awful let down. A lot of tiredness, you can see it here. I don’t believe in using that as an excuse but when you’re living in it and you see it, it’s a long a season here. I look at Leinster and how fresh they are. Our lads are hanging on in there.
RK: I hear a lot of people describe the Top14 as a bit of a slog? Such a gruelling league. MP: I hear that word as well. People look at it as a slog and it’s a slow game. Now, looking at the game last weekend you would think that absolutely but in general the games over here are good and they’re high scoring and they’re exciting. But the slog part is it’s so long. It’s non-stop.
I’d say when I go home to Munster I won’t know myself with the lesser amount of games (laughs). It’s just non-stop and then it’s so competitive here. Now, in fairness, the URC has thankfully ended up exciting for this weekend, which has been great, but that’s the first year in a while that it’s kind of been that close whereas, here, generally, there’s nine or 10 teams that are looking for top six and there’s no let up.
The difference here is you go to Perpignan and you play them or Biarritz, especially if it’s before Christmas because they’re alive (in the league)… those games are as hard to win as if you were playing a big team away. That’s just the nature of this league. RK: So, what makes La Rochelle so tough to play against? Can they derail Leinster in Marseille?
MP: They’re very strong up front. That’s the base. They have a very strong set piece, both attack and defensively. This is where it’s going to get very interesting for Leinster. I know everyone’s saying Leinster will win it handily or whatever but they probably haven’t come up against a team that have so many poachers, in the forwards and out in the edges with guys like Jonathan Danty and (Levani) Botia – they’re backrowers basically. That will be the interesting one because you look at how accurate Leinster are in terms of their ruck, so that’s where the battle is going to be.
And that’s what makes them difficult to break down. They have the best defence statistically over the last two years. It’s their system, of course it is, but it’s their ability to make good reads and slow ball down around the ruck. That’s their strength. They’re powerful men and once they get their claws on that ball, it’s hard to budge them. RK: Ronan O’Gara wrote in his newspaper column that the two of you had dinner and a few glasses of red before the game last week? MP: The night before we met up, we always would. We’d always catch up. We’d never talk about the game the following day. We rarely would. We’d just chat about everything and anything. I’d speak to him two or three times in the week. We’d exchange a lot. It’s been a good thing.
Obviously we’re at different teams but we would speak about ourselves in terms of our teams and we’d speak about other teams and just how about how you’re coaching here and how you’re getting your messages across.
We’ve both been sounding boards for each other really, which has been great. We came over here in the same year. We’d be close. We have a good balance as well. It’s not always just about rugby.
RK: The two of you go back a long way, didn’t you come through the grades at Munster before the glory days under Declan Kidney?
MP: Even further than that. ROG was on the PBC Cork team that beat Crescent Comprehensive (in the Munster Schools Senior Cup) and myself and Wally (David Wallace) were playing. ROG, Hoggy (Anthony Horgan)…Micko (Mick O’Driscoll) and Strings (Peter Stringer) were on that Pres team. That’s going back to 1995…that was the year we did our leaving? Yeah… 1995.
That’s the first memories where you could see ROG was starting to really come through.
RK: France has really shaped both of your coaching careers, you’ve been there for almost a decade now?
MP: I came over on a one-year contract as a skills coach with Grenoble through Bernard Jackman. He opened the door for me. I did four years: a year as a skills coach, a year as a backs coach and then two years as the attack coach.
I went to Oyonnax for a season,
Stade Francais for a season and then I’ve been three years in Racing. So, originally, when I left with my wife and my daughter, who was eight years old at the time, she’s 17 now, she’s been here most of her life, we thought it would be for two or three years potentially and then we ended up staying nine years. Nine great years to be honest. Plenty of memories. At the start, it was tough because when you’re with clubs like Grenoble and Oyonnax, with all due respect to them, they are clubs who have come up from ProD2, so you’re battling every year to stay up. At the time, it hard more to do with budgets.
It was tough. With those clubs, you were winning 20/30 per cent of your games and that can be tough when it’s every week. For me, it was a really good learning curve – as a coach and as a person because you’re in tough situation. You’re losing a lot and you’re trying to keep it positive. You’re trying to improve all the time as a coach and trying to improve the group.
Then I was in Stade for a year. We were mid-table and then you come to Racing and it’s the other side of the coin. They’re generally competing on both fronts, in Europe and the Top14. That’s the way it’s been here.
It’s been a real learning experience in terms of battling for years with teams who are looking to stay up and then a different type of pressure when you’re expected to win a lot of games. That bring its own pressure. Do you know what? I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I enjoyed the different kind of pressures as a coach during my time over here.
RK: How did all the experiences shape your coaching philosophy?
MP: Being in France, there’s a lot of things you potentially want to change. You can’t go in and look to change everything. It’s step by step. It takes time. You have your own philosophy and ways of doing things and you just do it step by step and eventually you’d hope that the players come on board with that and other stuff and you bring just different ideas and you mix it all in.
The biggest thing for me coaching in France was just coaching so many different nationalities, you’d have between 10 and 12 different nationalities in every club and they’ve all their own ways of looking at the game.
I just found that really interesting, listening to players down the years. International and club players from South Africa, New Zealand, Scotland, Fiji, wherever and just bringing it together.
As a coach, I think I would have been a good listener starting out and I just took all the parts of the game that I feel would suit me as a coach and I kind of held onto them and that a lot of that was learning from different players and that was probably the biggest experience, the biggest plus I could say as a coach over here.
RK: While we’re on the subjects of adversity and expectation, there is the new job at Munster now. What excites you about the impending move and what brought you back? MP: I played there so I know what Munster is all about. I’m from there, played all my rugby there. I was born in Limerick in the heart of rugby in a big rugby family so I know what it means to people, I know what it means to the supporters.
You could see that two weeks ago against Toulouse, the support was incredible. And when you’re far away and looking at that it does excite you and obviously on the pitch there’s a very good blend there. There’s a very good crop of players coming through with that nice blend of experienced lads that have been around and know the club.
I was fortunate enough to come through with a very good group in a good era where it all started off. They are memories that I will always have as a player and that excited me knowing where it could go.
RK: Did you know Graham Rowntree before he rang you up to offer you the gig? Ever crossed paths in the past?
MP: He contacted me a while back to see what my story was and we started talking and it just kind of materialised from that.
I wouldn’t have known him but when you have a conversation or two, it feels like you would have known him for a long time. He’s a very friendly, open guy and I just liked what he had to say.
Having someone in there like Graham made it very attractive because I still had another year here in Racing and it wasn’t a straightforward decision but when I spoke to Graham a couple of times I have to say, he got me excited about it as well.
RK: What excites you about the playing group?
MP: The profile of the players, that’s something that energises me and does excite as well, there’s very good profiles there in terms of, they are very skilful, they’re fit. And they are the two things you look for. Once they’re in place, that high level of fitness, you could see that only two weeks ago (against Toulouse) and in terms of their skill level, then around that, you put in a framework and encourage good decision-making within that framework.
So, there’s lots of different types of systems you can play. It’s about the one that suits the type of players you have. I have an idea of what way I’d like Munster to play and I have that in my head now going in there and there is certain things you’ll tweak.
RK: Watching Leinster and Ireland over the past 12 months, it feels like pace is the way forward?
MP: Yeah, overall, I suppose. You mentioned Ireland and Leinster. I’ve seen Munster do it recently as well. That’s what I mean about the profiles of the players, that does excite me. What’s in there and what they can do.
When I go there, I’ll know more as they say. It’s exciting times when it comes around.