Felipe Contepomi: Sam Prendergast 'probably unlucky' to miss out on Lions selection
Felipe Contepomi has expressed his delight at Johnny Sexton's decision to throw himself into coaching with the British and Irish Lions and Ireland, and predicted that Sam Prendergast may yet feature on Andy Farrell's touring roster in Australia.
In Dublin as head coach of an Argentina side that will face the Lions at the Aviva Stadium on Friday evening, Contepomi goes back a long way with Sexton who was an up-and-coming out-half at Leinster when the South American was the province's talismanic No.10.
It was an injury to Contepomi in the Heineken Cup semi-final defeat of Munster at Croke Park in 2009 that really opened the door for Sexton who shone at GAA HQ and again when Leinster won their first star against Leicester Tigers in the final.
The pair have also worked together more recently, when Contepomi spent four years as backs coach with his old provincial team towards the back end of Sexton's playing career. And now they are masterminds in opposing camps.
'I don't know if surprised, I'm delighted,' said the Argentinian about Sexton's decision to quit a full-time corporate role and give his all to a coaching gig that he had already dipped into with the national team on a part-time basis.
'I think he needs to go into rugby. He has a good rugby brain, very good rugby brain and I'm sure that he will have very good mentors there, you know. He knows [Andy] Farrell, he knows a lot of the staff, and I'm sure that he will get the most out of that experience.'
As for Prendergast, Contepomi's successor in the famous No.10 jersey was walking in to the province's academy just as he was exiting the building to take on the role of an assistant coach with his native country. That was in 2022.
Prendergast, still only 22, will be joining Jack Crowley on the Ireland squad that is due to play Georgia and Portugal next month on the back of a breakthrough year with club and country that was not without its difficult moments.
'Sam was lurking around in in the academy before I left. I could see his talent coming through, I didn't have to be a rugby brain to detect that he was a talented player. He is very talented, he's very good and it's probably debatable and probably unlucky to have to missed out the Lions.
'But he's a very young player and he will have a lot of opportunities. You never know what happens. The Lions, from what I recall, they never finished with the same [number of players] whatever, say, 40 something players they have.
'They never finished the tour with the same [number] who started. So, you need to be ready and, I'm sure he's on the fringe of that. So, I don't know, I'm just assuming, right? I don't have inside information.'
Contepomi is working with a squad that is missing a dozen men still involved in the Top 14 playoffs, including the likes of Santiago Chocobares and Juan Cruz Mallia of Toulouse and Guido Petti from European champions Bordeaux-Begles.
Centre Justo Piccardo will make his debut and there are three potential debutants off the bench for Argentina who have eleven uncapped players in all in their squad, eight of them from the fledgling Super Rugby Americas scene.
ARGENTINA: S Carreras; R Isgró, L Cinti, J Piccardo, I Mendy; T Albornoz, G García; M Vivas, J Montoya (capt), J Sclavi; F Molina, P Rubiolo; P Matera, JM Gonzalez, J Oviedo.
Replacements: B Bernasconi, B Wenger, F Coria Marchetti, S Grondona, J Moro, S Benitez Cruz, M Moroni, S Cordero.
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