DESPITE BEING MARKED absent with an injury that has more than likely brought his club career to an end, Garry Ringrose has revealed that Johnny Sexton continues to exert a strong influence behind the scenes at Leinster.
Owing to the groin issue that forced him off in the 73rd minute of Ireland’s Grand Slam clincher against England at the Aviva Stadium on 18 March – his final appearance in the Six Nations Championship – Sexton will be watching on from the sideline at the same venue this afternoon as the eastern province take on Toulouse at the semi-final stage of the European Champions Cup for a second consecutive year.
Ross Byrne deputised for the 37-year-old Dubliner in the closing moments of the English game and will don the number 10 jersey as Leo Cullen’s men aim to book their spot alongside either defending champions La Rochelle or Exeter Chiefs in the Aviva-set Champions Cup decider on 20 May. While he hasn’t necessarily adopted a hands-on approach during Leinster’s preparation for a crunch last-four showdown, Ringrose acknowledged Sexton has made his presence felt nonetheless.
“He was speaking earlier on in the week. He’s in on our backs meetings and surprisingly he’d still be humble enough to maybe not speak sometimes because he’d maybe feel it’s not his place, but we’d always ask if there’s anything he’s seen that we’re missing. Usually there is with how he reads the game and what he sees,” Ringrose explained at a pre-match press conference held at the Aviva yesterday.
“He sees stuff other lads don’t, so he’s still in there in the mornings helping us out in meetings and he’s there for us to pick his brain. He’s a big game player and he’s a good person to ask about what it takes to win. He’s seen it all, been there and done that. Him being around has definitely been helpful.”
Already minus the services of Sexton, James Lowe and Rónan Kelleher (amongst others) for this game, Leinster head coach Cullen suffered a further set-back when Robbie Henshaw picked up a quad injury in training on Monday and was subsequently ruled out of contention for today’s visit of the Top 14 pace-setters.
While Ciarán Frawley has been included in the match day 23 and is more than capable of taking over from Henshaw at inside centre, Charlie Ngatai is given the nod to partner Ringrose in the Leinster midfield.
The New Zealander’s most recent outing for Leinster was a United Rugby Championship encounter against Ospreys in Swansea on 7 January and even though he has missed out on a spate of games with a hamstring problem, the Gisborne native has regained full fitness in a timely fashion.
In stark contrast to Henshaw (who he played with on numerous occasions at both provincial and international level), Ringrose has only started alongside Ngatai in three previous games.
In addition to an interprovincial clash with Connacht in the URC on 14 October, the pair were also in the first 15 for back-to-back Champions Cup pool stage wins over Racing 92 and Gloucester last December. Yet in spite of their relatively limited game time together in the blue of Leinster, Ringrose believes Ngatai is primed to make a big impact.
“It was disappointing for Robbie when he went down and was told he was going to miss out, because obviously of what he can bring. Or what he does bring and no doubt would have brought on the day. No better man than Charlie to step up.
“He has been itching to get back and he’s a big game player. He has a ton of experience. From when he found out he was going to be playing, the energy and excitement he was bringing, you could notice it. From my perspective, it didn’t change anything.
“We have a bit of a routine as centres through the week and we’d all bounce off each other. I know Liam Turner and Frawls [Ciaran Frawley] and Robbie still, even though he’s injured, are helping out. It wouldn’t change anything from my perspective.”
Although the fact this year’s Champions Cup final will be held at the Aviva is an obvious one, Ringrose outlined how there are a number of other motivational factors that will come into play for Leinster in their latest duel with Toulouse.
“There’s so many different motivators at play. When you think of the whole season, it feels like ages ago, the start of the season. All the different players that have played. You even think of someone like Jamie Osborne. You want to do the whole group proud, because that is what it is,” Ringrose added.
“It’s a group effort and to put another star on the jersey, it’s kind of hard to put into words what that means motivation wise. Then playing against Toulouse, who have done that. It’s as big an occasion as it gets really. Everyone is unbelievably excited by the challenge, to go there and try and do it here.”