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The 'strange way' Sexton reacted when Farrell first spoke to him
By Liam Heagney
Johnny Sexton is heading to Twickenham reinstated as Andy Farrell’s Ireland skipper nine years after their first conversation prompted a strange look from the veteran out-half after the coach asked him a question by way of introduction.
The 36-year-old has been named at out-half to take on England having missed last month’s round two Six Nations match away to France because of injury. He was then only chosen as a sub for the round three win over Italy but he now retakes the No10 jersey from Joey Carbery, who will provide the bench back-up in London.
The recall of Sexton to the Ireland starting line-up came just two days after he agreed to a contract that will see him retire at the age of 38 when the 2023 World Cup in France is over.
Farrell has been his head coach with Ireland since 2020 having been an assistant to Joe Schmidt since 2016. However, he first chatted to Sexton as an assistant to Warren Gatland on the 2013 Lions tour to Australia and Farrell recalled that conversation when asked on Thursday about his relationship with the Ireland out-half.
“The first conversation that I remember having with him was the 2013 Lions where we met for the first time in a hotel the week before we left for Australia and my first question to him was do you enjoy talking about rugby and he looked at me in a strange way to say, ‘Are you kidding? That’s part of my problem’.
“He loves it. He lives and breathes it. That is what he has done so well. When people talk about 10,000 hours and people putting time on the field and it is all about practice, you have not got a clue what is going on in people’s minds. I think I have got a bit of a clue about what is going on in Johnny’s mind.
“He is fantastic. He cares about his own performance, his own preparation, his team’s performance. He is a team player first and foremost. He cares and is driven to be as good as he possibly can be and that is why you get longevity in any walk of life.”
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Latest Comments
It is if he thinks he’s got hold of the ball and there is at least one other player between him and the ball carrier, which is why he has to reach around and over their heads. Not a deliberate action for me.
Go to commentsI understand, but England 30 years ago were a set piece focused kick heavy team not big on using backs.
Same as now.
South African sides from any period will have a big bunch of forwards smashing it up and a first five booting everything in their own half.
NZ until recently rarely if ever scrummed for penalties; the scrum is to attack from, broken play, not structured is what we’re after.
Same as now.
These are ways of playing very ingrained into the culture.
If you were in an English club team and were off to Fiji for a game against a club team you’d never heard of and had no footage of, how would you prepare?
For a forward dominated grind or would you assume they will throw the ball about because they are Fijian?
A Fiji way. An English way.
An Australian way depends on who you’ve scraped together that hasn’t been picked off by AFL or NRL, and that changes from generation to generation a lot of the time.
Actually, maybe that is their style. In fact, yes they have a style.
Nevermind. Fuggit I’ve typed it all out now.
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