The 'strange way' Sexton reacted when Farrell first spoke to him
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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It’s a good, timely wake up call for NZ Rugby (seem to be a few of them lately!) - sort out the bureaucratic nonsense at board level. We can’t expect to stay the number one option without keeping fans/players engaged. We’ve obviously been bleeding players to league for years but can’t let the floodgates open (although I think this headline is hyperbolic as it’s a result of a recent Warriors pathways system where they are tracking things more closely) Understand the need to focus boys on rugby if they’re at a proud rugby school too, don’t think it’s harsh at all re Barakat in Hamilton. Reward the committed players with squad positions. An elite 1st XV system in NZ has done more for league than they even realise, think it’s good to protect our game further.
Go to commentsDon’t pay a blind bit of notice to Lukie… he likes the sound of his own voice and is always looking for something controversial to say. He has been banging on about Leinster's defensive system all season like he knows something Jacques Nienebar doesn’t. Which is the reason why he didn’t apply for the job obviously
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