Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
EYES ON THE PRIZE..
Sexton focused on light at end of tunnel
STAYING motivated under lockdown has been a challenge for Johnny Sexton – but thoughts of ending the season with silverware keep him going.
Thankful that his wife was a teacher before they had children, the Ireland out-half gets his training done in the mornings while Laura home schools their three kids Luca, Amy and Sophie.
“I get to do my training and after that it’s ‘Daddy Daycare’, and I can tell you which is harder,”
Sexton jokes.
“I’ve been away for a lot of their young lives with tours – Lions tours and World Cups, stuff like that – so it’s nice to be home for an extended period.”
The Blues skipper has devised ways to keep his kicking game ticking over – like nailing a soccer net into the garden lawn so he can “bang some balls into it”, or taking Luca to Dodder Park to kick balls into trees.
“Luca fetched them for a while, then downed tools and wanted to go home,” Sexton laughed.
“The one thing about kicking is that it’s important to keep ticking over.
“We’re training quite hard so your legs wouldn’t be ready for doing a hell of a lot of kicking.
“So once or twice a week, at the moment. Then I’ll build up the closer we get to games or even getting back to group training, when you’re going to have skills on point.”
Not surprisingly, the 34-year-old is itching for a return.
The IRFU’S initial plan was to resume collective training yesterday, but it will be next month before Ireland’s professionals will be told when they can resume with their provinces.
“You go through ups and downs,” Sexton told a Laya Healthcare Instagram Q & A.
“You hear some good news and you’re motivated.
“You’re thinking, ‘we’re back to training next month and I’m going to come back in great shape’.
“Then you get a setback and you’re not coming back for another couple of weeks after that then, and you get down on yourself.
“But the season’s just suspended, so we’ve got the end of the Six Nations to finish, we’ve got the European Cup and the PRO14 to finish, so a lot of things to stay motivated for.
“But again, it’s hard to be motivated all the time – you’ve just got to find ways to get over those little lapses.”
Tooled up with weights that were dropped in by Leinster before lockdown, he also purchased an assault bike – a “horrible, horrible piece of equipment”.
“It’s not ideal, but hopefully it will stand to us,” Sexton said. “You can do some training you wouldn’t normally do.
“I’m brushing up on podcasts and watch documentaries, keeping myself switched in to try to improve as a leader and captain.
“There’s loads of things you try to improve during this time.
“Hopefully when we get back from all this the Leinster boys will be in great condition – and the Irish boys, whenever we get to meet up again, will be ready to rock.”