JOHNNY SEXTON’S RETIREMENT from rugby isn’t just something we on the outside like to discuss. Naturally enough, it comes up in his family chats too.
“My brothers are onto me as well,” said Ireland captain Sexton yesterday ahead of Saturday’s clash with the Wallabies in Dublin.
“They’re giving me guilt at the moment. They’re saying, ‘What are we going to do when you retire?’ They love coming to the games, they almost feel like they’re playing the game themselves.
“My wife is not talking to me like that.
“Look, I just need to concentrate on what’s ahead of me, and that’s all I am doing, concentrating on this season and trying to make the most of every opportunity I get and, please God, get to the World Cup and then see what happens.”
Earlier this year, Sexton seemingly confirmed that his current contract would be his last.
The suggestion in March was that the IRFU deal he signed until the end of the 2023 World Cup would be it.
But Sexton stressed yesterday that he hadn’t actually made any retirement announcement.
“Well, you guys caught me by surprise when I announced the extension. I thought it was a good news story. ‘Does this mean you’re retiring after?’ You can’t get rid of me quick enough!
“So, it caught me by surprise. I genuinely didn’t expect that question in the first place and I hadn’t prepared for it and I kind of thought is it not kind of obvious?
“But we’ll see, we’ll see.”
Whatever about next year, Sexton remains in flying form now at the age of 37.
He has been nominated for World Rugby player of the year for the third time, with an announcement for that award coming on Sunday. Sexton has a very good claim.
The Leinster man has been superb for province and country ever since he suffered the huge disappointment of missing out on Warren Gatland’s Lions squad for the 2021 tour of South Africa.
“The Lions selection still drives me to this day,” said Sexton. “Any time I feel I’m getting a bit ahead of myself, I just think back to not being picked for that. Again, it’s opinion, isn’t it? The World player of the year is a few people’s opinions. They think you’ve done well.
“When it came down to the Lions selection, a few important people thought that I wasn’t the right fit for that team and it hurt like hell.
“It just shows the fickleness of selection and everything, and you don’t want to go out from international rugby like that. It’s a big motivating factor. I’d rather have got picked and I still think I’d be hungry, but maybe sometimes you need a bit of a stir-up like that.
“I’ve still never been to South Africa in however many years playing rugby. I’ve never been to South Africa and I always thought, ‘I’ve never been but it’s going to be that tour.’
“Look, like I said, it’s opinion. The coaches thought that I wasn’t the right person for the job, and that’s life. You’ve got to get over it. But you’ve got to use it.”
So Sexton remains as motivated as ever ahead of the visit of the Australians to the Aviva Stadium. The out-half sat out last weekend’s win over Fiji with a dead leg but was as prominent as ever in the victory against the Springboks a week before.
He remains the key figure for Ireland but he’s happy to reveal that he doesn’t make every decision out on the pitch. Take the 46th minute against the Boks when Sexton wanted to kick at goal but James Ryan told him otherwise. The Ireland captain has spoken about the growth of the team’s leadership group and this was an example.
“I said, ‘We’ll take three?’ And he said, ‘No, we’ll go the corner.’ And I said, ‘OK,’” explained Sexton.
Of course, Ireland mauled the Boks over their line for Josh van der Flier’s crucial try.
“I disagreed with him and then he told me again, ‘No, we are going to the corner,’” said Sexton.
“So, you can’t argue with him when it comes to that because you have to back him. They thought they had a move that worked but it’s fine margins, isn’t it?
“Like, if we didn’t score there, it’s a poor decision and ultimately it is a poor decision by me because I have to make the call at the end but great finish by Josh and they produced, just about, it was literally that far away. So it’s fine margins but fair play to him.
“He [Ryan] grabbed big moments in the game. You take the end of that first half and defending the maul, and he steals the lineout and then we clear our lines.
“So, there was a few big plays from him in the game and he was outstanding physicality-wise, leading from the front like he always does. He had a real edge to him in that game.”
Ryan made a very similar call in Ireland’s third Test win over the All Blacks during the summer for Rob Herring’s key maul try, but that doesn’t necessarily mean going to the corner is the right call every time now.
“It’s based on something that they’ve prepared or something that they’ve seen that they want to go after,” explains Sexton.
“When you’re in an opposition 22, sometimes if you flip it and you’re on the defensive team, you’re going, ‘Hopefully they’ll take three here and we get out of here.’ The last thing you want is to be defending a five-metre lineout.
“So, you’ve got to flip the psychology sometimes as well. He [Ryan] has come up with those two big plays over the last few big games we’ve had, so we’ll see what pans out on Saturday.”
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