Joey Carbery has been praised for dealing with being dropped as Munster strive to finish their South Africa mission with Champions Cup qualification wrapped up.
The Reds' rousing URC defeat of the Stormers may be enough to clinch that vital European spot next season.
But if the Bulls beat Leinster with a bonus point then Munster must take at least a point from their clash with the Sharks on Saturday.
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Victory will be on the minds of the Munster players after the Sharks recently beat them in the last 16 of the Champions Cup.
"There was a lot of hurt coming into the Stormers game," said attack coach Prendergast. "We're still hurting so look, the performance is everything. If you get that right everything else will push into place.
"We're a club that always wants to be in the Champions Cup. It’s the last game of the regular league season and we want to finish that off on a high."
Munster must do so without RG Snyman, who is following return to play protocols after suffering a head injury.
Carbery, meanwhile, is a high profile player looking to fight his way back, both for Munster and for Ireland.
Last weekend, Jack Crowley and Ben Healy were picked ahead of the out-half who, until December, was first choice for the province and second only to Johnny Sexton in Ireland's pecking order.
"He has taken it as well as he can in terms of being a professional and getting on with his job," said Prendergast. "He’s still speaking in a positive manner, which is a really good sign of the type of guy he is.
"Obviously it's the discussion we'll have going into the game again. His name will obviously be back in there. We’ll see how we're going to set up from an attack point of view.
"There’s part of the season we’ve got to go and Joey will be part of that as well. He's a huge talent. That doesn’t go away. He has opportunities.
"Naturally, if we progress there will be more games. He’s reacted as I guessed he would - a good bloke, a good pro, a good guy. We'll bring all that into conversation and see what we’ll do next."
Munster skipper Peter O'Mahony is confident that 27-year-old Carbery will battle his way back.
"Joey is the ultimate professional and he's well able," said O'Mahony.
"He's still very young, he wants to be in all these teams and to be performing to the best of his ability. That's probably what he's focused on.
"Certainly, I would be very close to him. He's the utmost professional and he'll be fine."
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