Four ages that forged Sexton the superstar
Hireland’s veteran playmaker has grown from a youngster riddled with angst over his lack of progress into a global force
The image of a young Johnny Sexton brooding over a coffee in a Dublin cafe while contemplating his future at Leinster is a curious one, given how his name has become synonymous with the province’s success for more than a decade.
Yet this was the way of things in Sexton’s early days, which were marked by a gnawing frustration that he could be doing more. He was never singled out as a talent who would reach the heights of then captain Brian O’driscoll and, in the 2008-09 campaign, was stuck behind Argentine Felipe Contepomi under head coach Michael Cheika.
“When he was in the under-20s, no one would have picked Johnny Sexton to have the career he has had except for Johnny himself,” former teammate Bernard Jackman says. “With the drive he had, he was always going to find a way, but he was really frustrated. I think he was on the verge of leaving Leinster.
“He was certainly wondering if there was a future for him there, because he didn’t get to play in some of the big games. He felt Cheika didn’t trust him. And that really hurt him because he believed he made the team better, and he did, but we didn’t see it as clear-cut then as we would now.”
Sexton, then 24, finally got his chance in the 2009 Heineken Cup semi-final against Munster at Croke Park after Contepomi was injured. For many, the enduring moment of that game would be Sexton standing over his Munster opposite number, Ronan O’gara, and screaming after Leinster had scored a try.
“We all laughed about that because that was just Johnny,” Jackman says. “In fairness to Ronan, he was giving him s---. But that typifies Johnny, he is completely transparent. It is a personality that we see less and less in sport, but Johnny was always different. He was so passionate. It has come into fashion now to be vulnerable, to show emotion, but back then it was rare.”
The rivalry between O’gara and Sexton was a point of heated debate between fans and the media over the next two years. Despite their fiery exchanges when playing for their provinces, O’driscoll, who captained Ireland, insists the pair never allowed their rivalry to turn toxic.
“There was going to be that interesting dynamic because of what happened in the semi-final and there was naturally going to be antagonism between the two of them vying for that position,” O’driscoll tells The Daily Telegraph. 2009 2011 2013 2015 2017 2019 2021
Games Points
“But they never let it impact the national set-up.
Whatever grievances they had with one another, it served the
Irish team the best because outstanding performances.”
O’gara – a Grand Slam winner in 2009 – was certainly in no mood to go quietly, and continued to put pressure on his younger adversary right up until his international retirement in 2013. Where some young bucks would have been cowed by the prospect of having a national legend scrutinising his every move on the sidelines, Sexton relished it.
“There is no doubt that rivalry helped make him as a player,” O’driscoll says. “Having to vie against someone for a jersey, perhaps someone who you didn’t get on with initially, was going to drive someone like Johnny to work harder and to stamp his authority on the jersey when he got the opportunity.”
The seminal year in Sexton’s development was 2013. Off the field, he married his childhood sweetheart Laura – the moment he “grew up”, as his former Leinster, Ireland and Lions team-mate Jamie Heaslip puts it – and on it his focus switched from the domestic to the global.
Not only did he receive his first British and Irish Lions call-up, but he also moved from his beloved Leinster to Racing 92. In France, he linked coach, and forged a tight bond with his erstwhile rival. Meanwhile, on the Lions tour to Australia, he also formed another unlikely friendship, this time with Owen Farrell.
Both were not just supreme rugby talents, but also sporting obsessives at a similar stage of their careers.
“People look at Johnny and Owen and see the competitors on the field, but sometimes that can give you a false representation of who they are,” Heaslip says. “They are two really nice fellows.”
Although Sexton started all three Tests against the Wallabies, Heaslip believes being in close quarters with Farrell helped Sexton become even more driven. “Johnny saw that Owen was going pretty well and if he wanted to be the top guy he would have to go to the next level,” he says. “It drove him over the next few years, where he ended up in 2018 being World Player of the Year.”
At 35, Sexton has stated his intent to keep playing for as long as possible. Not only is this year’s Lions tour in his sights, he has just signed on for another year’s centralised contract with Ireland and Leinster.
“His game is as high as it has been in the five years I have coached him,” says Stuart Lancaster, who has worked with Sexton at Leinster since 2016. “He is a competitor, he will want to play and compete at the highest level – that is the way he is wired.”
The former England coach immediately took a shine to Sexton when he was looking at moving to Leinster. “I always thought he came across well, but what cemented it was when he heard I was potentially coming to Leinster and he sent me a text saying, ‘Let me know what you need to help you get over the line’. For me, that was big at the time.”
Although Lancaster believes there is plenty more fight left in Sexton the player, he says: “I am
pushing him to be a coach
to offer. He has such technical and tactical knowledge. If we can find a way to harness what is inside his head, that is very exciting.”