Aled Walters has no concerns around 'big man' Sam Prendergast

Ireland's strength and conditioning guru Aled Walters has rubbished suggestions that Sam Prendergast needs to bulk up for Test rugby.

The out-half has enjoyed a breakthrough season both for Leinster and Ireland, establishing himself as first choice 10 for club and country.

A tall out-half, Prendergast is listed as 6ft 4in and 91kg on the Leinster Rugby website, although his physicality was scrutinised when he broke into the Ireland squad last November, and the player has bristled at suggestions he is too 'slight' for the top level.

Walters has no such concerns about 22-year-old's physique.

"People make comments about his physical development. It’s only when you see him in the gym and what he does that you might think differently about it," Ireland’s head of athletic performance said.

"He is a big man. He’s much heavier than I think people give him credit for. He is a heavy outside-half. And he is strong.

"He knows it's still an area [for development] because he is so young and with maturity he will naturally get stronger but he is fast and powerful and he moves incredibly well.

"I don’t see it as a massive project for him to develop physically. He is in a pretty good place already."

Walters (below) says that Prendergast’s rangy appearance shows how appearances can be deceiving.

"That’s why I’m so confident in him that he is very well developed. It’s a massive reflection of the work they do at Leinster and provincial level that a player of 21 comes in and he is in physically great condition to go and play test match rugby.

"Because of his appearance…he’s quite lanky isn’t he, he’s quite thin. People think he is fragile and I don’t see it myself."

Having first appeared in Irish rugby while working for Munster in 2012, the Wales