Sexton keen to kick on against Racing

RUGBY:THE CAMEO role by Jonathan Sexton at the end against Munster drew an ovation from Leinster fans troubled by the possibility he would not be in harness for Racing Metro on Saturday.

Cautiously nudged on to the pitch by Joe Schmidt, but not falling into his normal kicking role might have had some of the hard core at the Aviva Stadium heady with bemusement. Clearly Sexton was fit to play last Saturday night, or he would not have been allowed on the pitch. Right?

It was Sexton’s peculiar injury to his quad muscle, which is central to the kicking action, that briefly kept him from the tee. That was the only caution. Sexton was fully fit to play.

Leinster can expect a full-blooded contribution from the Irish outhalf as they finally find their mojo at Magners League level and face into their most important match of the season in the Heineken Cup.

The prospect of a full session against the French team is something Sexton has been hoping would become a reality since he injured himself before the first game and then forced the rehabilitation and then he re-injured himself. Total disclosure Jonathan, can you play 80 minutes?

“I hope so,” he says. “It’s obviously been a frustrating few weeks with injury, more so because I was fit for every session in pre-season and then 20 minutes before the first game I pulled up with a slight quad injury and then made it worse by trying to come back a bit early. So lesson learned.

“I over-kicked a little bit, just being anxious to get the season off to a good start and paid the price. I went into the Cardiff warm-up and then pulled up, it was more precaution at the time that I didn’t play but made it a little bit worse by coming too early for the next game and then the game after that.

“I would have been able to (kick) last weekend as well. It was just I didn’t have a lot of days before the game practising and I’d had been kicking well and he (Isa Nacewa) started the game kicking so there would have been no point coming in and taking over, especially having just come back from a quad injury. But I’ll be available to take them (kicks) this weekend if I’m told to.”

It is a leg up for Leinster that Sexton is back and, although Schmidt faces a few other injury anxieties, there is some optimism.

Leo Cullen spoke of looking to the Magners League failures as much as the Munster scalp to set their minds correctly for Racing. And Leinster knows little about them. There is no comfort in familiarity as there was with Munster last weekend.

“I never heard anyone say it was comforting to play against Munster,” Sexton says doffing his cap to the twice European champions.

“It’s never a pleasant thing to do. But I know what you mean. You know about them. But they know about you as well and Racing wouldn’t know a lot about us.

“Joe (Schmidt) would have a good knowledge of them, having been in France for the last few years and Nathan Hines would know them well from being in Perpignan. We’ll concentrate a lot on them this week.”

The up side is that after the end of a nail-picking few weeks injured, Sexton is offered a platform in Europe. He has never been one to shy from pressure or expectation. Few class outhalves can. But he has had to come in from his pre-season and limply watch the new coach force his mark on the squad as he shuffled around waiting.

“I was nervous going in,” he concedes of the Munster clash. “But the atmosphere gets you straight into the game. We were just delighted to get a win and we were quite happy with how we played in the second half – the last 15 minutes really. Hopefully, we can carry that into this weekend.

“It’s important for us to get a win going into these two games, to get a first home win. We didn’t do it last year against London Irish and we were under pressure for the rest of the group – another slip-up and you’re gone”

With Sexton at 10, Leinster will have more scope for tactical kicking from the hand.

Isa Nacewa, a player of many parts, was an important utility man to come in, but in Europe the international specialist seems now a must. And more so for the longer run in a World Cup season.

“I think it’s important to not look at everything in terms of the World Cup,” warns the sage Sexton.

“Leinster has got to be important in its own right. You look to play well for Leinster because you want to play well for Leinster, not because you have got a World Cup coming up. The Heineken Cup and Leinster are huge things in their own right.”

That’s the focus. Sexton at the moment is living in the moment.