SEXTON NOT IN LINE FOR STU ROLE
Kenny wants Aviva fortress as Euro 2024 qualifiers loom
STUART Lancaster’s Leinster exit may have come six-to-12 months too soon for Johnny Sexton to step into the Englishman’s shoes.
Sexton (37) has a lot on his plate as captain of the Blues and Ireland, with a World Cup next year too before he retires.
“We’ve not discussed it obviously because it’s only just come out really,” said Racingbound Lancaster.
“But Johnny, I think, is going to be full on. He’s full on wanting to win with Leinster and win a World Cup with Ireland.
“So I think the last thing on his mind at the moment is thinking he’s going to become to head coach of Leinster. And rightly so, as a player you have to focus on being a player.”
Candidate
The successful candidate may well be at the club already.
“Yeah, internally it could happen. So I think Robyn McBryde, Andrew Goodman, people like that. They could easily want to do it.
“Obviously Leo (Cullen) is very good at working in the background and speaking to people, and again, he was the one who persuaded Andrew Goodman to come from the Crusaders, which is an amazing thing really, isn’t it?
“I was only speaking to Goodie yesterday about him leaving the Crusaders to come here. It’s so hard to leave a successful team and it’s a reflection of the culture I think that Leinster have created that it makes it such a hard place to leave.”
STEPHEN Kenny wants his Ireland side to turn the Aviva “into a real fortress” during next year’s Euro 2024 qualifiers.
The Boys in Green must avoid defeat at home to Armenia tonight to stop themselves slipping into League C for the next Nations League tournament in 2024.
To date, Kenny’s side has tasted success just once in Dublin in nine competitive matches with June’s 3-0 Nations League win over Scotland joining his away successes in Azerbaijan and Luxembourg. growing and the connection with the support behind the team in such an emphatic way, we’re going to get better.
“We’re going to turn this place into a real fortress, which we’ve seen against Scotland.