BLUES BELIEVE

Leinster ready for Saracens, insists Sexton

JOHNNY SEXTON has insisted that there is no better time to face Saracens as Leinster prepare for their European Champions Cup quarter-final meeting at Lansdowne Road on Sunday.

When the Blues crashed out of Europe in the semi-final in Clermont last season, Sexton admitted he was disappointed the province wouldn’t get an opportunity to test themselves against the English side, who travel to Dublin this weekend as back-to-back Champions Cup winners.

And now that they finally have a shot at the London club, Sexton insists that the timing couldn’t be any better for Leo Cullen’s squad.

‘If you want to win the European Cup again you are going to have to beat Saracens at some stage so there is no better time than to get them at home in the quarter-final,’ he said.

‘It is going to be a huge challenge, I don’t think they will have any fear based on what they did last year, so it is a going to be a big challenge and it is one that we are ready for and we [believe that] can put our best foot forward.’

There will be some extra spice added into the

FOR Johnny Sexton, life as a professional rugby player is a constant quest for self-improvement. It says much about the out-half’s mindset that less than two weeks after capturing his first Grand Slam, Sexton can’t quite shake the feeling that he could have offered more over the course of the Six Nations.

‘I don’t think you’re ever comfortable... it’s rare I’d finish a game or a campaign and not feel like I could do something better,’ Sexton admits.

‘You finish the [Six Nations] campaign, won the Grand Slam, and I still feel that I’d like to have kicked above 85 per cent; I’d have liked to do something a bit different in a couple of games.

‘You’re never fully satisfied, you’re always striving to play a perfect game or campaign.’

Sexton’s contribution to Ireland’s success was huge, from the stunning drop-goal that snatched victory on the opening weekend in Paris right through to the bloodied but controlled display in the St Patrick’s Day defeat of England.

In between, there was a rare off day with his boot against Wales, but despite leaving eight points behind in a space of just 15 minutes, instead of letting his head drop Sexton’s general play was outstanding.

‘I kicked well in France, apart from one I got a bit quick on. I actually kicked 100 per cent against Italy in the next game, five from five,’ he explains.

‘And then, against Wales, it was just one of those days when, you know, the first one you hit well and it hits the post. You hit two from the sideline that you think are going to go over and they just miss. I hit one bad kick in that game, maybe, that I was disappointed with.

‘In my own mind, I fixed it against Scotland, kicked four out of five. Then I kicked well enough against England without having too many kicks, two from three.

‘I had one bad [kicking] game. I have been able to hit above 80 per cent in all of the campaigns for the last number of years. To fall below that was disappointing for my own standards, but it was one game really.’

In his own words, Sexton was affected by a ‘niggle’ in the buildup to the Wales clash. He will turn 33 in July, but even at this stage of his career he admits that it can be a struggle to move on when things don’t quite go as planned.

‘Mentally, any kicker will tell you, when you’ve kicked poorly in a big game the first thing you want to do is get out and figure out what you did wrong.

‘I’d a good idea why a few of the kicks [against Wales] just missed and I had to get out there and put it right in my own head, but I didn’t get a chance. I had to kind of stew on it for 10 days, so it was pleasing to come out and kick well against England.’

This week Sexton is back with Leinster as the province ramp up their preparations for Sunday’s Champions Cup quarter-final date with Saracens.

When the Blues were dumped out of Europe in Clermont last season, Sexton confessed he was disappointed to not get a shot at Saracens, who arrive in Dublin as back-to-back European champions.

This may be the game Sexton wanted, but he says the pressure isn’t quite as intense as it was in the build-up to Ireland’s Grand Slam showdown with England, a week he has since revealed he just wanted to be over.

‘I probably didn’t express that right,’ he continues. ‘It was a tough build-up to it. We had the strange situation of knowing we were going to lift the trophy but what you really want isn’t the trophy, it’s that bit of history, the Grand Slam. So, it was a very strange week.

‘This week, the closer the game gets [the feeling will change]… we are desperate to get back to those big European games and this is one of them, to try and stand out and get to another final.

‘There is internal pressure that is driving us, definitely, and this team wants to create its own bit of history, in terms of a lot of the guys who had that success have moved on now and there are only a few of us left and we want to start our own little chapter in Leinster’s story.’

The task at hand might be made slightly easier with Saracens out-half Owen Farrell currently hampered by a quad injury.

The English side have struggled for consistency this season but Sexton is expecting a stern challenge on Sunday, even if Farrell fails to make the cut.

‘Look, any team in the world would miss Owen. They have had a challenging season but they have still got themselves into second in the Premiership and they have still got themselves into a quarterfinal in Europe.

‘We are going to have a crowd of 50,000 apparently and that’s a big factor, a big motivating factor, you don’t want to let those people down, [but] they will have no fear, they sort of thrive off these atmospheres, it is that “against the world” [mentality] and they seem to play their best under those circumstances.’