It’s child’s play now for Jonny
Six Nations glory, touring with the Lions and becoming a father... it’s been a busy four years for Ireland No 10 Sexton. But he’s not lost his edge
We pride ourselves on fighting for the small margins... and we get the rewards
for that
JOHNNY SEXTON is a changed man from the youngster who went to his first World Cup four years ago. So much has been packed in during the intervening 48 months. ‘A crazy amount,’ says Ireland’s No 10. ‘Success for Leinster in that period straight after the World Cup. We won a few trophies, I ended up getting on the Lions tour, Ireland had a successful period, I went to France, got married, had kids, so a hell of a lot has happened. It’s worlds apart.’
His approach to being pitch-perfect for England 2015 has changed too, the experience of last time when he lost his starting place to Ronan O’Gara mid-tournament helping him prepare.
He explains: ‘I just want everything to go well and I’ve worked hard all summer. I learned a little bit from last time in terms of trying to be ready for the World Cup itself. At the last World Cup I was probably ready for it day one of pre-season, raring to go. You think that you are fit enough and I probably took my foot off the gas. I spent a lot of my spare time on the golf course rather than the training pitch.’
Fatherhood is treating him well. It won’t ever dilute the edge that imbues his rugby with its craving for perfection, but his domestic situation now brings a different perspective. ‘I’m only cranky when things aren’t going well,’ he explains. ‘When I used to finish a match and things hadn’t gone well, things festered for 48 hours, three or four days maybe, where I was constantly thinking about the game I had lost, I hadn’t played my best in or I’d made a couple of mistakes. Now I basically go home and I’m just hit with a tornado of a 14-month-old boy who is absolutely wild so it just automatically takes your mind off things, but I don’t think I have lost any hunger or drive.’
Baby Luca might not be along to watch dad at the finals. ‘Normally if you have a kid under two you can get them into the stadium but now you need a full ticket. It will mean either my son or my dad missing out. We’ll see.’
Sexton, 30, knows what grand achievement can do for the country and he knows the grip rugby can have on younger imaginations, as he has experienced that himself.
‘I remember watching in 2003, my first proper World Cup, when I was really, really mad into wanting to become a professional rugby player. I remember getting up early to watch those games. We were playing a trial later for the Irish Under 19s and got up early to watch the Australia game where we nearly beat them. [David] Humphreys hit a beautiful drop goal that just shaved the upright.
‘That was my first. My other World Cup memories are all soccer. The World Cup in Japan/Korea, that was amazing. I remember how mad the country went, no-one on the streets, no traffic, everyone in the pubs or houses watching.’
He chuckles on learning that U2 are in London the week of the World Cup final, calling team manager Mick Kearney over and jesting him to get on the case for tickets.
Joking aside, if there is an Ireland party that week in October, Sexton’s foresight will deserve kudos. It was in Hamilton, following the embarrassment of the 60-0 humiliation to New Zealand in 2012, that he boldly suggested the chastening ordeal could be as useful to Ireland as England’s infamous 1998 ‘tour of hell’ Down Under which laid their foundation to conquer the world in 2003.
‘They are the type of experiences that you hate to go through but they definitely make you stronger and hungrier to make sure it never happens again,’ says Sexton, aware there are 10 Irish starters from that horrible night in Joe Schmidt’s 2015 squad.
‘Since then we have had a few really strong seasons. The games we have lost it’s been against good opposition and they have been really tight games that could have gone either way.
‘We’re in a nice place,’ he adds, unperturbed by recent warm-up results. ‘We have been playing well and trying not to peak. We’ve had a long term view.
‘We could have very easily not won those Six Nations. We won four out of five games, two other teams went four out of five last year, and one of them went four out of five the year before and we won it on points difference. We like to pride ourselves on fighting for small margins, for every point and we got the rewards for that and we have to bring that into the World Cup.’