Mike Prendergast (born 21 May 1977) is an Irish

rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

coach who started his professional playing career with

Munster Munster ( gle, an Mhumhain or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the south of Ireland. In early Ireland, the Kingdom of Munster was one of the kingdoms of Gaelic Ireland ruled by a "king of over-kings" ( ga, rí ruirech). Following the ...

. He also played a season with both

Bourgoin Bourgoin-Jallieu (; frp, Brégon) is a commune in the Isère department in the region of Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes in France. The city had 28,834 inhabitants in 2019 and lies 35 kilometres east-southeast of Lyon. It was formed by the merger of th ...

in France and

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean to the west, east of Monmouth and east ...

in England before returning for one final season with Munster. He played as a scrum-half and represented

Young Munster Young Munster is a rugby union club based in Limerick, Ireland, playing in Division 1A of the All-Ireland League. It was founded in 1895 and plays its games at Tom Clifford Park in Rosbrien, Limerick. Club honours have included nine wins in th ...

in the All-Ireland League. Having previously been director of rugby for amateur Irish club

, Prendergast joined French club

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

as a skills coach in 2013, where former

Leinster Leinster ( ; ga, Laighin or ) is one of the provinces of Ireland, situated in the southeast and east of Ireland. The province comprises the ancient Kingdoms of Meath, Leinster and Osraige. Following the 12th-century Norman invasion of Ir ...

and

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

hooker

Bernard Jackman Bernard Jackman (born 5 May 1976) is an Irish former rugby union player who played for Connacht, Leinster and Sale Sharks. At international level, he has also played for Ireland. He released his autobiography, ''Blue Blood'' in 2011. He was di ...

was then defence coach. Ahead of the

2017–18 Top 14 season The 2017–18 Top 14 competition is the 119th French domestic rugby union club competition operated by the Ligue Nationale de Rugby (LNR). Two new teams from the 2016–17 Pro D2 season were promoted to Top 14 (Oyonnax and Agen) in place of the t ...

, Prendergast joined

Oyonnax Oyonnax () is the second most populated commune in the Ain department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in eastern France. Oyonnax lies in a valley of the Jura Mountains in the far north of Ain. It is near the Parc naturel régional du Haut- ...

as their attack coach, before joining

Stade Français Stade Français Paris Rugby () is a French professional rugby union club based in the 16th arrondissement of Paris. The club plays in the Top 14 domestic league in France and is one of the most successful French clubs of the modern era. The ...

, where former

teammate

Paul O'Connell Paul Jeremiah O'Connell (born 20 October 1979) is an Irish former rugby union player and coach. When he stopped playing, he was Ireland's third most-capped player (108) and the eighteenth most-capped international player in rugby union histo ...

was also a coach, as their backs and attack coach for the 2018–19 season, after Oyonnax were relegated from the

Top 14 The Top 14 () is a professional rugby union club competition that is played in France. Created in 1892, the Top 14 is at the top of the national league system operated by the French National Rugby League, also known by its French initialism o ...

. After one season with Stade Français, Prendergast departed the club to join their Parisian rivals,

Racing 92 Racing 92 () is a French rugby union club based in suburban Paris that was formed in 2001 with the collaboration of the Racing Club de France and US Métro. They were called Racing Métro 92 between 2001 and 2015, when they changed the name to ...

, where former Munster teammate

Ronan O'Gara Ronan John Ross O'Gara ( ga, Rónán Ó Gadhra; born 7 March 1977) is an Irish former rugby union player and current coach. O'Gara played as a fly-half and is Ireland's second most-capped player and highest ever points scorer. He is currently ...

once coached and also where former Munster players

Donnacha Ryan Donnacha Ryan (born 11 December 1983) is an Irish former rugby union player and current coach. Ryan spent most of his career representing his native province Munster, spending 13 seasons at the club, before moving to French club Racing 92 in 2 ...

and

Simon Zebo Simon Zebo (born 16 March 1990) is an Irish rugby union player for United Rugby Championship and Champions Cup side Munster. He is equally adept as a wing or fullback, having played in both positions often for Ireland, Munster and Racing 92. ...

were playing at the time, as their backs coach on a long-term contract ahead of the 2019–20 season. Prendergast returned to Munster on a three-year contract from the 2022–23 season to join new head coach

Graham Rowntree Graham Christopher Rowntree (born 18 April 1971) is an English rugby union former player and current head coach of Irish club Munster. He played loosehead prop for Leicester Tigers and England. He was capped 54 times for England, despite havi ...

's coaching setup as an attack coach.

References

External links

Munster Profile
1977 births Living people Irish rugby union players Young Munster players Munster Rugby players CS Bourgoin-Jallieu players Gloucester Rugby players Racing 92 coaches Munster Rugby non-playing staff Rugby union scrum-halves Irish expatriate rugby union players in France Irish rugby union coaches Expatriate rugby union coaches {{Ireland-rugbyunion-bio-stub