Since he started making waves for the Ireland Under-20s in their Grand Slam year of 2023, comparisons with Johnny Sexton have followed Sam Prendergast around.
There are the obvious physical attributes: height, both men over 6 foot; bossy, pointing and directing; kicking, off the ground and out of hand excellent; a strut, which the best out-halves have.
Sexton played to the line and Prendergast has shown that willingness to take the hits to make the space.
On how to deal with not playing every week, he told Michael Corcoran: "There are two sides to it.
"You need to be able to deal with it in a positive way so you are still helping the team.
"At the same time, I don’t think you are going to get to a very good place in your career if you are happy enough to do that.
"You can still be p****d off because no-one wants not to be involved.
"If you want to be at the top level, you can’t be happy with not playing."
On the battle for the 10 shirt with Ciarán Frawley, Ross and Harry Byrne, he said: "I suppose there is, but I think that’s good for everyone.
"Frawley has done very well over the last few weeks; Ross has been very good as well. It’s obviously competitive but that’s good for everyone.
"All of us want to be playing every week but that's just the nature of it. It's a tough job to get, the number 10 for such a good side with so many internationals.
"It’s only right that it’s that competitive and that hard to get it. It’s enjoyable, it’s frustrating but it means you are trying to get better every day."
Prendergast, younger brother of Connacht captain Cian, made his debut away to the Lions in April of 2023 and is likely to win his first senior international cap during the Autumn Nations Series, where Ireland host New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia, having been included in a number of training camps over the last year.
The recent addition to the calendar of Emerging Ireland tours has been created with players like Prendergast in mind. The Kildare man started all three of the games at the start of the month after touring with the seniors over the summer.
"Sam as a young player is growing all the time," said Leinster boss Leo Cullen.
"I think he did a very good job for us in round one against Edinburgh.
"It looked like he did lots of good things on the Emerging Ireland trip as well.
"He is trending in a positive direction. Nobody is going to be the complete player at that age, I don't think.
"Everybody has to be patient with younger players. It's a good opportunity for Sam."
While the former Newbridge College player would have come across Sexton sporadically while he worked his way through the ranks over the last two years, it looks as if he will get more exposure with the former Ireland skipper set to act as a mentor to the three out-halves in Andy Farrell’s squad.
Following his retirement last year, a complete break from rugby was never likely to last long and Cullen hailed Farrell for incorporating the 39-year-old, who won 124 international caps and was World Rugby Player of the Year in 2018.
"He has such a wealth of knowledge and it's important that that’s not lost to the corporate world completely so Andy has done a good job in that," he said.
"You look at the age profile of some of the 10s in that squad, younger guys that are in such a complex position.
"He has so much still to give to Irish rugby and it would be a shame to see that wasted. I don’t know the exact ins and outs of what exactly that’s going to look like but in theory it sounds great, yeah."
Meanwhile, Cullen (above) hopes that there will be an official announcement soon on a contract extension.
He took over as head coach in 2015 and it was reported during the week that he would soon extend his deal until the end of the 2026/27 season.
"Marcus [Ó Buachalla, Leinster media] tells me, at some point he will hope to get some news out there and hopefully I will be part of that, yeah, which would be lovely," said the 46-year-old, who last led Leinster to the Champions Cup title in 2018, about the deal.
"Listen, I love the job here, it's great. I am enjoying this season.
"Everyone always asks themselves the question in terms of the group and making sure you are adding value. That's all I am really ever focused on – how do I add value? Am I doing what's best for the group?
"We are very lucky that we have a great bunch here, players and staff. There's different narratives out there, of course, in terms of coming up short the last couple of years. We have a group that is unbelievably motivated day-in, day-out to be at our best.
"I am enjoying the dynamic at the moment. We have a good bit of freshness in the coaching group.
"We will see how we go over the next couple of weeks, how conversations go. We are in silly season.
"There are lots of reports about lots of different things at this time of year, isn't there? Some of it is true, some of it is not true.
"It needs to just play out and take its course, make sure we do what's right by Leinster first and foremost."
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