Glasgow's honest take on Sam Prendergast: 'I think they make it easy for him'

Leinster stormed into the semi-finals of the Champions Cup with a ruthless 52-0 dismantling of Glasgow Warriors at the Aviva Stadium — and Franco Smith reserved special praise for fly-half Sam Prendergast after the match.

The 22-year-old was instrumental as the Irish province ran in eight tries, kicking five conversions and delivering a measured all-round performance in front of over approximately 23,000 supporters. Despite facing the team sitting directly below them in the URC table, Leo Cullen’s men dominated every facet of the game.

The win books a last-four clash with either Northampton or Castres.

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Smith – whose side could offer little resistance once Prendergast and Leinster got into their rhythm – was candid in his admiration for the young playmaker when asked by RugbyPass for his take on the youngster’s performance.

“I have a son who is the same age as him [Franco Smith Jnr] who played in the World Cup in South Africa [World Rugby U20 Championship], last year or the year before and I already saw his [Prendergast’s] qualities there,” the Glasgow boss said.

“He’s playing in a very, very good team. I think they make it easy for him. To have Jordie Barrett and Gibson-Park both sides of you and quality of the forwards giving you that go forward, and it gives permission for him to orchestrate, and he does that really, really well.”

While Jordie Barrett was the main focus of the post-match plaudits, Prendergast was Leinster’s puppet-master extraordinaire.

He laid on a try for Hugo Keenan with a deft first-half kick and drew a penalty try when his chip forced Adam Hastings into a deliberate knock-on. It was a very different picture to the nightmare he endired just weeks previously on the same pitch, when he was painted as the villain in Ireland’s 42-27 Six Nations’ loss to France.

“He’s coming along nicely. He’s had to learn the hard way sometimes but he’s slotted in so nicely, you can’t see the difference from another player. I think he’s progressing really well,” Smith added.