Prendergast: The best of Fekitoa is yet to come

Damian de Allende was always going to be a tough act to follow.

The South Africa World Cup winner made a big impact at Munster in his two seasons, and while he wasn't able to help end the province's trophy drought in that time, he more than held up his end of the deal, often producing his best performances in Munster's bigger games.

But with De Allende now back playing in Japan, Munster's big-name signing this summer was Malakai Fekitoa, the former All Black and now Tonga international, arriving from Wasps on a two-year deal.

Through three games, the powerful centre is yet to explode into life, although for now that can be attributed to a general malaise in their gameplay.

At the very least, Fekitoa has been looking for work. His 32 carries across three rounds is the province's highest, and second only to Jacob Stockdale and Sione Kalamafoni of the Scarlets across the BKT United Rugby Championship.

Turning those carries into line-breaks and try-scoring opportunities, however, requires composure from him and those around them.

And while we're yet to see the end product really click, Munster assistant coach Mike Prendergast says the potential for growth in that area is huge.

"Absolutely, he's a fantastic player on his day and I've seen glimpses of it, absolutely I have, you see it at training and in some of the games," the Munster attack coach said of Fekitoa.

"Again, it's just getting used to combinations which it has been over the last number of weeks, he's still finding his feet, that takes a bit of time in terms of the move, the whole rugby side of things, new coaches, new players, but we definitely see aspects of his game both sides of the ball which are exciting and we know what's going to come down the line."

Prendergast