Sexton’s French lessons serving Ireland well
THE GRIN on his face after his last-gasp winning drop goal in 2018 and also the shake of the head when he was replaced in 2020 encapsulates the complex relationship Ireland flyhalf Johnny Sexton enjoys with France.
Sexton, 37, is the player that every opponent targets when they play Ireland but it is the French who like to get under his skin in the lead-up to matches.
This dates back to when Sexton played for Top 14 side Racing 92 between 2013 and 2015.
Sexton was irked when, in the build-up to the Ireland match in 2021, his former French doctor spoke about fears for his health due to the number of concussions he had suffered.
A seething Sexton described the comments as “inappropriate and upsetting for my family”. It was ironic that he was ruled out of the game the next day when he failed a head injury assessment.
The 2018 World Player of the Year missed last year’s match as well but has been passed fit for today’s clash in Dublin.
Sexton, though, has conceded that not all the fault lies with the French. He admits he rubbed some people up the wrong way when he was at Racing.
“I had some meetings with the president (Jacky Lorenzetti), and he said: ‘I want you to change the culture and I want you to bring a winning mentality’,” Sexton said on Wednesday.
“I went in all guns blazing and figured out that there weren’t that many people there to do the same thing, whereas I should have gone back and tried to make friends first and build relationships, and it stood me well.”
Sexton says that experience served him well when Andy Farrell appointed him captain after the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
“Like, when there are new guys coming into the environment here you need to build relationships with people and Andy is big on that,” he said.
“So it was a good eye-opener for me, and at least then you’re coming from a good place in terms of standards.”
Fond memories
Sexton says he did not get much of an insight into the French psyche when he was at Racing.
“There were a lot of foreign people there when I was there,” he said. “I obviously had French coaches and they were good. They did get a little bit emotional at times, so I kind of got on well with them,” he added with a grin.
Sexton admits it was frustrating to have left Leinster – “the best club in Europe at the time” – for one that was “in a little bit of transition”.
However, he says he returned to Leinster a wiser and better man for the experience.
“I remember meeting up with Matt O’Connor (the Leinster coach from 2013 to 2015) for a coffee just before I came back and he thought it did benefit my game,” said Sexton.
“Because I had to figure out how to try and win games differently with a team that probably wasn’t as good at playing rugby as Leinster used to play or as organised, and I had to figure out a way.”
Sexton credits O’Connor’s positive spin on his spell in France as aiding him to appreciate that it was a glass half full, not half empty.
“Matt was a very intelligent rugby guy and yes, I probably did learn a lot,” said Sexton.
“I learnt a lot culturally, like what not to do. I learnt a lot about myself in terms of leadership, more so in what not to do.”