Johnny Sexton 'a great sounding board', says Sam Prendergast

Comparisons with Johnny Sexton are going to follow Sam Prendergast around. Whether he likes it or not.

The early signs are that the 21-year-old doesn't really mind being likened to the former Ireland and Leinster out-half; it is a compliment after all.

Sexton retired aged 38 after the World Cup last year and the question of who was going to succeed him, after 14 years in green, was always going to be a hot topic.

Munster's Jack Crowley started the first nine Ireland games in the post-Sexton era, while Leinster's 21-year-old Prendergast has been in possession of the 10 shirt for the last two Tests, wins over Fiji and Australia last November.

Ciarán Frawey, also from Leinster, has fallen down the pecking order.

It appears the Irish and provincial management are in agreement, with Leo Cullen handing the Kildare man starts in Leinster's last two Champions Cup games this season, an away win at Bristol in which he scored two tries and last weekend's 15-7 victory against Clermont.

Prendergast has been described by fellow autumn Ireland debutant Thomas Clarkson as wanting "everything to be 100% perfect and when it is not, he has got a big stroppy head on him, similar to Sexto."

In his widely acclaimed autobiography Obsessed, Sexton revealed much of what he kept hidden during his playing career: struggles breaking through at Leinster, rivalries, fights with team-mates, constant fitness battles and an intolerance for anybody or anything that didn't reach his high standards.

Sensing there's no point in hoping the Sexton questions will stop anytime soon, Prendergast appears to embrace the subject.

Firstly, has he read the book?

"Yeah, I have, I thought it was very good," he told RTÉ Sport.

"I don't know if it was because I didn't know a whole