Sexton vows to get sharp
properly. You’ve got people coming in keeping you fresh and hungry; Stuart (Lancaster) at Leinster, guys coming in with Ireland and Joe (Schmidt) still being there, Faz (Andy Farrell) came in last year really bringing more to the party. We’ll see how long, I don’t know.
‘I think people know (when to walk away), that’s what all the lads who have gone before me have said. I don’t feel like that at the moment, that’s not saying it won’t happen in the next few years, I don’t know, but I’m happy and hungry at the moment and I just want to crack on, get a good few games under my belt, especially for Leinster as I didn’t play as much as I would have liked last season.’
Sexton is confident that the injuries he sustained in New Zealand won’t overly delay his start to the campaign, and he is eyeing a return by round four or five of the newly-expanded Pro14.
‘I hurt my wrist a little bit; it’s been in a splint for a few weeks and a couple more [to go]. I rolled my ankle in the third Test, someone, I think, landed on it when I got tackled from behind, just unfortunate, [but I have] started pre-season so things won’t hold me back too much.
‘I’ll get a good block of work under my belt before the start of the season. Last year was obviously a pretty disruptive pre-season coming back from shoulder surgery. I just felt I didn’t get the block of work I needed in that summer. Hopefully this will stand to me a bit more and get the work that I need to get in.
However, even with the new season looming, Sexton still can’t escape the feeling that the Lions should have returned from New Zealand with a series win under their belts.
‘When you draw, it is an anticlimax. You’re not too happy; not too sad,’ he continued. ‘The fact we had such a good group of players — off the pitch we got on so well — meant we were able to enjoy the few days.
‘It is only after your holiday you look back on it. I thought we should have won it if we had played at our best in that third Test. It is disappointing. At the same time, a lot of people are proud of what we did down there.’
Sexton’s own tour got off to a difficult start with Owen Farrell instead getting the nod for the first Test against the All-Blacks.
‘We played (the Barbarians) two days after arriving in New Zealand and I don’t think we have ever played a match feeling worse, mentally and physically. It was always going to be a challenge. I didn’t get too hung-up on that game.
‘I prepared as best I could and tried my best — the same as all the rest. Sometimes it comes off for you and sometimes it doesn’t. You are not that far away from a good game or a bad game, especially in my position.
‘We can say we were unbeaten in New Zealand. You can twist it any way you want. We all went down there to try and win a series. Even in that first Test, the way they scored a couple of tries and we didn’t take our chances.
‘We will look back on it with fond memories because of the bond we had among the group and the great friends that we made.
‘From a rugby point of view, it was one that got away.’