It is said that rugby is in the blood, and Saturday’s 2025 Guinness Six Nations game in Cardiff will be a particularly proud day for the parents of Cian and Sam Prendergast, Mark and Ciara, as well as their sister Lara.
When Cian was introduced off the bench in the 48th minute of Ireland’s Autumn Nations Series win over Fiji at the Aviva Stadium last November, Sam was making his first Test start, having been a replacement against Argentina a week beforehand.
The Prendergasts thus become the 57th pair of brothers to play for Ireland, so emulating the Wallaces, be it Paul and Richard, and then Paul and David, as well as Rory and Simon Best, Niall and Rory Scannell, and most recently Rob and Dave Kearney, who also hold the record of playing 11 Irish Tests together.
Bold and brave team selection from Ireland and Wales ahead of Six Nations clash
So, this third-round clash against Wales in the Principality Stadium will be the Prendergasts' second Ireland game together. And their second rugby game of any description together.
Almost exactly three years apart, previously the Prendergast brothers had never played against or alongside each other, save for an underage Gaelic football match with their local club Suncroft circa 2015/2016.
“That’s the extent of our playing career together,” Cian once told The Irish Times.
The brothers play for Connacht and Leinster respectively, and Lara – who has competed for Ireland in athletics and has played Gaelic football and hockey – now plays for Three Rock Rovers. Therefore, supporting the Prendergast siblings’ sporting careers in body as well as spirit must be quite a juggling act for Mark and Ciara, even with the discipline they would have inevitably honed when serving in the army.
Insomuch as one can tell from limited media dealings, albeit Cian was a ready talker in a half-hour one-on-one with this writer in November 2023, their sons appear to be quite different characters and players. As well as being a flanker, Cian has had more setbacks and is that bit more intense, whereas Sam is a languid, stylish, specialist outhalf and playmaker, and cool as a breeze.
As the elder sibling, Cian had launched his career through the Connacht academy after being cast adrift by Leinster and, naturally, was first to break into the Irish set-up.
Brought to New Zealand in the summer of 2022, he played in both Maori games and was part of the Emerging Ireland squad in South Africa, and made his debut back in November 2022 off the bench against Fiji, before being picked in the wider World Cup squad, winning his second cap as a replacement against Italy before starting at number eight against England in what felt like an audition for France 2023.
The older Prendergast was arguably the unluckiest Irish player to miss out on the World Cup, for had Andy Farrell opted for a 19-14 split instead of 18/15, as others did, the Connacht captain would have made the cut.
Last November’s fourth cap off the bench against Fiji, alongside his younger brother, was his first involvement since missing out on the World Cup. But as Sam’s star has shown ever more brightly in ensuing starts against Australia, England and Scotland, when earning his fifth cap with a typically polished Man of the Match display, it must have been a slightly curious dynamic for the older brother though – pride most of all but perhaps tinged with a little sibling rivalry.
You’d wonder how many of the Prendergast clan will be able to descend on Cardiff in person but either way you’d hope it’s a memorable day for them, with both Cian and Sam being on the pitch simultaneously and neither incurring any injuries. But, of course, one other thing would make the day complete, namely a win, for that invariably defines such a day.
