Why Sexton will be the power behind the glory
He may be cranky, but ambitious Johnny is Ireland’s driving force
JOHNNY SEXTON was so influential in the win against Wales that even the noise in the stands submitted to his will. When he missed shots at goal, the cheers inside Lansdowne Road died, the entire ground subdued by the skewed sweep of one man’s boot.
And when he flung a marvellous long pass off his right hand to put Jacob Stockdale over for Ireland’s first try, the attendance were already celebrating before the winger had touched down.
With 10 minutes remaining in the game, the sight of Sexton receiving treatment from a medic while Conor Murray lined up a penalty drew puzzled murmurs from Irish supporters enthralled by a frenzied contest. He was responsible for the drama, the disappointment, the doubts: it was the complete performance.
That phrase is ordinarily reserved for a sportsperson who dominates a contest for their team, but Sexton’s display was a mixture of the brilliant and the fallible. It was a struggle between enormous influence and moments of real fragility, and in that it was a passable representation of his career.
This week, as Ireland prepare for the fourth leg of their Grand Slam bid, it is obvious Sexton is their best and most important figure, with respect to the crucial roles filled by Murray and Tadhg Furlong. He is also, by a distance, the best out-half in the northern hemisphere.
Should he shepherd Ireland to a Slam on St Patrick’s Day, he deserves to be considered at least the equal of Ronan O’Gara as Ireland’s greatest No10, and with the World Cup next year an obvious conclusion to his career, he could be out on his own by then.
All players have to battle to become the best in their field, but that sense of toil, of scrapping for everything he earns, seems especially marked in Sexton’s case.
Maybe that’s because his emotions are easily read, whereas O’Gara, Jonny Wilkinson and Dan Carter played the game with the unknowable expressions of auditors.
His breakthrough was the 2009 European Cup semi-final against Munster in Croke Park, when he celebrated a Gordon D’Arcy try by roaring into the face of O’Gara, who had tried, in vain, to prevent the score.
That publicised a rivalry everyone presumed existed between players competing for one place in the national team.
He would reveal years later that O’Gara once called him a nobody in a match in Thomond Park.
Sexton’s roar was the product of more than parochial feuding: he was only on the field that day after Felipe Contepomi had suffered a serious knee injury. He was 23 years of age but with only two European starts to his credit as Contepomi reigned. Sexton had served his time.
Two years later, the indecisive selection policy of Declan Kidney made the 2011 World Cup one of the most trying experiences of his career.
He started the first two matches in Ireland’s pool, including the famous win over Australia, but a missed penalty in that match saw O’Gara, on as a replacement, given the tee.
He started Ireland’s remaining three games, the last of which, a wretched defeat to Wales in the quarter-finals, was the last time Sexton won a cap as a replacement. By 2012 he was finally Ireland’s No10, but the struggle continued – with some of his trials selfinflicted.
Moving to France was ill-advised and proved a failure. It was there that his association with concussion began, when a doctor advised him to stand down from playing for three months after head injuries.
This topic exasperates him but his frustration pales compared to the growing understanding of the catastrophic damage wrought by brain injuries sustained in rugby.
Sexton’s general well-being recurs as a talking point because in practically every match he is the target for opposing teams, who send the meanest forwards they can find after Ireland’s inspiration.
To see him on one knee with a physio or doctor checking his health is now nothing out of the ordinary. It is the price he pays for trying to influence the game like a back row as well as a playmaking out half.
Stockdale spoke after the Italy win about the reprimand he received from Sexton at one point, the veteran upbraiding the younger man for a mistake he made.
That is a common sight, too, and it fortifies the image of him as cranky. He might be, but the ceaseless pursuit of more is his motivation.
That ambition powers Ireland as well, and if this Six Nations is to end in glory, Sexton will, more than any other player, be the man responsible.