Johnny Sexton ready to take centre stage at World Cup

Time was when we use to fret over Brian O’Driscoll like mother hens. The source of concern now is Johnny Sexton. When he clutched his hamstring after that sliced kick at Twickenham the sudden intake of breath amongst Irish fans was almost audible.

When Sexton plays well, Ireland play well. End of. So for Ireland to make an impact on this World Cup like none of the previous seven, his health and form are liable to be an integral part of that script.

On the eve of the tournament, he appears to be in a good place and, as ever, was candid and thoughtful. As an outhalf, he also ticks every box, so you hope this will be the tournament in which he showcases all those abilities, unlike four years ago.

The last World Cup still provokes very “mixed” memories for Sexton, and hinged on “small margins”.

Having started the opening two pool wins over the USA and Australia on sodden nights in New Plymouth and Auckland, that World Cup might have panned out differently but for one penalty off the post against the Wallabies, which resulted in Ronan O’Gara taking over the kicking duties for the last two penalties.

“If I get the last two – no kick is simple but they were ones you’d expect to get – you’re five from seven, you kicked a drop goal and got 18 points, and you’re the hero. It’s a totally different tournament. Whereas I hit the post, Rog takes over and that’s life. You learn from it. I know that things could have been so different and sometimes it really eats at you.”

Raucous atmosphere

There were “some great memories”, not least playing 80 minutes of that win over Australia. But experiencing the raucous atmosphere of an Irish-dominated crowd in Dunedin for the win over Italy from the bench was one of the low points of his career, and was compounded by two fine kicks not doing enough to earn him a start against Wales.

“I thought then that they were two important kicks, and maybe gave me a lifeline. But he [Declan Kidney] went the other way. Look, it’s a big regret, but I’ve had lots of regrets in my career and they’ve all made me better for it, I think.”

Four years on, you wonder if that experience makes him more determined to ensure a more positive World Cup this time around. “Definitely. After that 2011 World Cup I had one of my best seasons for Leinster. We had a great European Cup campaign and won it. I played some really good stuff and probably used that [World Cup] as motivation.”

Sexton is a different player and man now. Then he was rattled by the competition with the iconic O’Gara. Now, he is way more experienced, the established playmaker in a winning team, with two years behind him in the Top 14; he’s now a husband and father too.

“The 2011 World Cup came maybe two years after my debut, and those two years were a very uncertain time because I’m competing with a guy who has 100 caps, who the country loves, and I’m this upstart who screamed in this guy’s face and probably didn’t make anyone like me for it, and you’re also playing with Munster guys who are used to Rog.

“I was uncertain going out on the pitch a number of times, not knowing whether I was coming or going, and it was a very transitional time. Now I’m obviously very settled in international rugby. It’s a different sort of thought for me. It’s not easy, but it’s more comfortable. Well, as comfortable as it can get.”

That the hub of the team has shifted more on to Sexton sits well with his temperament and famously demanding nature.

“I’ve always liked responsibility. I was always a captain in my school. It’s not that I don’t feel pressure, but I don’t feel an extra burden if people say I’m an important part of the team. I don’t feel ‘oh my God, I’ve got to perform here. I think sometimes where I got caught before was when I tried too hard at times.”

Drive me crazy

He has also married long-time girlfriend Laura and become a dad 16 months ago to their son Luca. “It didn’t drive me crazy when I heard people say thing like ‘when you have a kid, defeats don’t hurt so much afterwards’. I don’t think that’s true. Defeats bloody hurt all the time, but I think it does take your mind off things a lot quicker because you’ve got a tornado storming around the house, wrecking everything and you’ve got to keep up with him. You’ve no time to think about the mistakes you made or the defeat you’ve just had.

“On the flip side, when you win – like the Six Nations last year – he was there with us and at the celebrations the next day, and I got great photos with him and the trophy.”

He had seen others such as Paul O’Connell and Mike Ross bring their kids into the changing-room.

“I remember being in Bective [as a kid] and they’re some of my best memories. It’s a privileged place to get into, so it’ll be cool in two or three years’ time, touch wood, when he has a clue of what’s going on.”

Unlike four years ago or any other World Cup, Ireland enter this tournament with the encouragement of being back-to-back Six Nations champions.

“We have to take a bit of confidence from it. We’ve a good level of consistency, that we know if we turn up we’ve got a chance, and more often than not, with Joe cracking the whip, you do turn up because it’s demanded of us and expected of us.”

Starting today, Sexton also knows that all of our Ireland’s pool opponents will put their best foot forward in a way that they wouldn’t have been able to do over the last four years – and this includes Italy and France, as well as the ‘minnows’.

“You can see that France look better already, and it’s not normal to look better after one or two games. Yeah, it’s not daunting but it’s a real challenge.”

Honest opinion

So how does he look back on the two years with Racing Metro, the second of which was dogged by injury?

“I don’t know. I’m tempted to give an honest opinion and I’m tempted to hold it back. Look, I think after one year we weren’t, as a team, a success, but I would have been a success individually. And then everything kind of flipped. I had a bad year for Racing Metro.

“I played every game for Ireland bar one, and probably played 10 games or something for Racing out of 34, and that’s what I have to live with.

“I probably failed over there but I look back and I couldn’t have done anything differently. It doesn’t bother me. Honestly, I would tell you if it did.

“It doesn’t pull me down, it doesn’t drag me down. It doesn’t make me feel guilty, because I honestly tried my best in that first year. They saw that and offered me a long-term contract but since that, things didn’t go great. But I couldn’t have done anything differently.”

You wish him an injury-free World Cup, because in that scenario you wouldn’t swap him for any other outhalf in the tournament. “If the team is going well it means that I’m probably going well.

“What comes first? Do I need to play well for the team, or does the team need to play well for me to do well?

“But once the team is going well it means that I’ll have probably been doing my job and that’s really it.

Reading newspapers

“Maybe at the last World Cup, I’d come off the 2011 Heineken Cup and we’d won it and sometimes you get dragged in to reading newspapers and press, who thought I could have been a star of the tournament. And I kind of went out there thinking ‘I could be. I could be.’ It takes your mind off what’s important, and what’s important is just doing your basics well and playing for the team, and that’s what I try to do.”