Bath attack coach Prendergast reunited with Finn Russell and full of praise for his 'incredible talent'

Mike Prendergast wasted little time making clear what excites him most about his new role as Bath’s attack coach: the chance to work again with Finn Russell, the Scotland fly-half he first coached at Racing 92 and who he believes has grown into an even more complete player during three-plus seasons at the Rec.

Prendergast, speaking to the media on Tuesday for the first time since his move from Munster, described the 99-cap international — who recently turned 34 — in terms that left little room for ambiguity. “Finn is an incredible talent, a brilliant player, and a brilliant guy to work with,” he said. “He is great for your environment, your squad. I couldn’t speak highly enough of Finn.”

The Irishman drew on the particular bond that tends to develop between an attack coach and a fly-half, noting that the relationship goes beyond the training pitch. “With an attack coach, the 10 is always someone you’ll have a close link with. I still keep in contact with number 10s that I coached back in Grenoble 10, 12 years ago,” he said. “I’ve a very strong relationship with Finn.”

Prendergast was keen to push back on any lingering perception of Russell as a maverick who operates on instinct alone. “Go back a couple of years ago, people used to think he is this player who just rocks up. He doesn’t,” he said. “Finn does his work in the background. We’d sit down, we’d look at the opposition, chatting about them, looking at clips. He sees pictures probably quicker than anyone does, and he sees moments and opportunities.”

Drawing a comparison with football, Prendergast added: “In soccer you’d say he is incredibly hard to mark, because of his array of skills, his passing skills, his short kicking.”

The coach also pointed to a specific evolution in Russell’s game since he crossed from the Top 14 to the Premiership. “The game is maybe a bit different to what it is in France, subtle differences, and you can see he has matured as a player even more so — in terms of understanding the profile of our team and what is in front of him, and his understanding of when we don’t need to overplay and when we need to pull the trigger.”

For Prendergast, Russell’s mental resilience is as valuable as his technical gifts. “He has a great ability to move on to the next job, whether it is good or bad,” he said. “He doesn’t pat himself on the back, he is just looking to do something good again.”