WHO IS JOHNNY Sexton and where did he come from?
Because that’s not what he’s called at home or in his immediate circle. It’s not how they refer to him at the St Mary’s College RFC where he first cut his teeth in a craft that has become his identifier. It’s not his name in the Sexton house in Rathgar either. Around there, he’s the first born of four ahead of Mark, Gillian and Jerry, with a seven-year age gap between oldest and youngest.
In those parts, he’s known as Jonathan or Johnno. Never Johnny. That was more of an invention of the media, a name that slowly drowned out the early Jonathan references that announced his talent to the world. Over time, as he ascended to the rank of Ireland and Leinster’s first-choice out-half, he simply became Johnny. And that was the name that stuck. His stage name. Right up to today.
This afternoon is Sexton’s final Six Nations game. Grand Slam success is within reach which would give him the ultimate exit from that competition. That would be Sexton’s second and a fourth in total for Ireland. But that’s not the only Grand Slam attempt that the Sexton family will be invested in this weekend. His brother Mark is a coach with the Ireland U20s who have been a dominant force in the Six Nations for the last two years. They’re the reigning Grand Slam champions, and are on the verge of becoming the first nation to do that back-to-back.
That just leaves their parents Clare and John, along with siblings Gillian and Jerry as the only Sextons who won’t have a hand in what will hopefully be a momentous weekend for Irish rugby.
“It’s probably a good thing that the two lads are in camp for the week,” Jerry says in conversation with The42 over a video call from his home in Jersey where he works as a police officer.
Jerry too played rugby professionally and retired two years ago. That’s a lot of rugby talent for one household, and their childhood days were packed with it. As young boys, the brothers found inventive ways to play indoor rugby.
“I think all three boys probably drove my sister insane. We were always fighting, playing rugby and we used to have a game called Knee Rugby. We played rugby in our front room of the house and you were only allowed play on your knees. There were no real rules, it was just someone had to get through the other person and score. I was seven years younger, so you can imagine what the lads were doing to me.”
A game of knee rugby among men in their 30s would be a sight, but that dynamic has shifted for the Sextons. Even in conversation, sport doesn’t feature as prominently whenever they’re all together these days.
“If we’re all together now, it’s normally for family [events] or a christening,” says Jerry.
“My sister got married a couple of summers ago and my other brother got married last summer. So, we’ve had two big weddings and it’s been great craic. We were back for Christmas and you’re having a laugh and a few beers together. It’s quite enjoyable.”
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The eldest of the Sextons is famously a half-back while his youngest brother Jerry is more at home in the pack. Second-row to be specific with a penchant for calling lineouts. They never got a chance to play together. Jerry did enjoy game time with Mark, while Mark was on a team alongside Jonathan.
And from there their paths diverted. Jonathan had the good fortune of going down a dream route. A star in schools rugby, he progressed through the ranks in Leinster and Ireland up to a professional standard. Mark endured multiple knockbacks throughout his playing career, largely due to a serious leg injury from when he was a teenager.
“He (Mark) was in fifth year in school when he broke his leg in three places,” says Jerry.
“And then he got compartment syndrome which stops the blood flowing for the lower half of his leg and they had to cut out his calf muscle to release the pressure.
“He came back [from that] and won the AIL with Mary’s. He scored two tries in the final which was a great day. He had a good playing career but he always had issues with the leg. He had a steel rod in his toe and his hamstring and back used to go. Whatever chance Mark used to have kind of got ripped away from him.”
From sharing a dressing-room together as players, Jerry later worked with Mark the coach as his brother started taking his first steps into mentoring. Mark also embarked on a career in physical therapy along the way too.
“He coached my Mary’s U20s team. He was only about 24 and got into it with a good friend Hugh Hogan, who went on to coach for Leinster. After that, he coached a Junior Cup team in Mary’s and got them to their first final in about 25 years. He then got the senior cup coaching job and then the Mary’s senior job. It snowballed from there.
”He always wanted to get into professional sport somehow. He got asked onto the Leinster U19s and did very well. And now he’s into his second year in charge of the 20s, and hopefully there’ll be two slams in-a-row.”
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There was a different life in store for Jerry. He avoided the injury horrors that felled Mark but fate still wouldn’t permit him to follow Jonathan’s example. He got as far as Ireland U20 level but there was no answer when he came knocking at Leinster’s door.
He went on cross-continental sojourn which brought him to clubs like Exeter Chiefs, London Irish, Jersey Reds, Auch in France and Mont-de-Marsan. He took in more of the world when he joined the Southern Kings in South Africa before eventually rounding back to Jersey to settle into life as a retired rugby player.
“I had a great time,” Jerry said about his own rugby road.
“10 years travelling, seeing different parts of the world in South Africa, Exeter, Jersey – places where people would want to go to live generally. Going up to play against the likes of Leicester in a Premiership match or a cup final against Saracens, those days were very special.
“I just think I knew that I was never going to make it with Leinster and I just wasn’t good enough. But I really enjoyed the path that I went down.”
Jerry also had a heart condition to consider. It was while he was with Exeter when he was first diagnosed with Wolff-Parkinson-White. He wasn’t showing any alarming or apparent symptoms but the issue was detected and surgery was recommended. The discovery didn’t force him to retire, but perhaps it did prompt him to have a rethink about his future.
“I still have it now and I had a scan when I was at Doncaster. The doctor said it came back or it never went, and they recommended getting an operation which is called an ablation. That was it then, I wasn’t going to go to France but I don’t think I would have passed the medical over there unless I got the ablation.
“No one told me to retire. It was more just that I had got to the age where I wasn’t going to kick on any further as a player. I enjoyed playing in the Championship. I had a couple of goes in the Premiership and the Pro14 [Now the URC]. It was great; I loved it. But you can see the stage financially where you’re not going to be making enough money for it to be rewarding later on in your life, unless I went into coaching, which I wanted to do.
“I’m happy now that I’m back here.”
Jonathan’s career is naturally the one he was probably visualising all along, but that wasn’t the one he got. There’s no jealousy or resentment though. Nothing but respect for what his brother has achieved over such a long stretch of time.
“I think you could feel jealous if you felt someone didn’t put in the work or if someone didn’t give up so many things, but you’d probably never meet a harder worker, or a nicer guy in your whole life [than Jonathan]. What he’s done is so special because he earned it; nothing was given to him.
“He was never the fastest and he always worked hard. He was obviously gifted with his kick but he worked hard. I remember kicking balls back to him in Donnybrook. He’d lie to me saying we were going kicking and I’d just stand under the posts and kick the ball back to him.
“When he was 20, 21 he was working in a finance company and playing for Mary’s with no contract in Leinster. People don’t see that kind of stuff. There wouldn’t be any jealousy, you could only admire him.”
These days, Jerry keeps law and order on the streets of Jersey. The discipline and structure of the job appealed to him when he first began his police training around two years ago. It mirrored the world he knew in rugby. Jersey is a quiet island with a population of around 100,000 people. Thankfully, crime rates are low.
He still slings the rugby ball about as well, playing casually for the British Police. They normally face opposition like the Army, the Navy and the RAF. They have summer tours too, although Jerry won’t be involved this year.
He has also dipped his toes into coaching waters. However, shift work makes it difficult for him to fully immerse himself in that interest.
“It’s hard to commit to anything. There’s also an amateur team that can play Junior League called the Jersey Royals. I’ve been head coach of them for a couple of years and I’d love to keep doing it. It’s just until I can commit, I’ll have to put it on the backburner for another bit.”
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Saturday will certainly be a day of high emotion for the Sextons as their eldest begins his separation from international rugby. He’s been Ireland’s number one out-half for over a decade. In truth, once he was firmly installed, he never had any true challengers for his job such is the extent of his consistent excellence.
His breakthrough to the Ireland 10 jersey was a time of great division. Team Ronan O’Gara or Team Jonathan Sexton? The usurper or the established Munster icon? Johnny or ROG? It was a compelling period for Irish rugby fans as a changing of the guard unfolded before us. For the Sextons however, it wasn’t quite as pleasant.
“It was actually quite difficult in some ways,” Jerry recalls, “because my Dad is a big Munster man. Our whole family is from Kerry and Limerick so back when the Heineken Cup started, O’Gara was there and my Dad used to always watch all the Munster games. So when it started, it was obviously difficult.
“Both of them were such good players. Jonathan was up and coming so I think it was hard when people were saying stuff and it wasn’t really like that. Maybe the start of it was a bit frosty but I think they got on quite well and they got to spend so much time together. They’d go kicking together on their off days and they became great friends.”
And now it has all built to this epic crescendo. Not as Johnny but as Jonathan. Or Johnno. Ireland v England on the last day of the Six Nations championship with only Grand Slam honours available for the home side. Should that all go to plan, the microphone will then pass to Mark and the Ireland U20s to hopefully sing us out to the finish line.
“Everyone is just looking forward to the weekend,” says a proud Jerry. “I’m not sure how it’s going to feel when you realise it’s his last game in the Six Nations. I think that’s what’s going to be the weird thing because it’s something you look forward to every year. Hopefully Mark will keep coaching 20s or move on forward and give us something to look forward to.”
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