REACTION: LAST DECEMBER Johnny Sexton believed his Leinster career was over. Withdrawn at half-time in the hugely disappointing 18-15 defeat in Castres, it looked like another season bench-warming, at best, for the 23-year-old.
There was another game at the RDS when Sexton was visibly disgusted after being withdrawn before the interval, supposedly for concussion. Isa Nacewa was Michael Cheika’s preferred option at outhalf. When that failed – Nacewa eventually flourished at fullback – Felipe Contepomi returned from the centre and would have been playing on Saturday if not for injury. Sexton was number three, and David Holwell’s brief return made him number four. Now he is the undisputed number one.
“At the start of the year things didn’t go great and at one stage I thought I had played my final game for Leinster,” he said candidly. “At one stage, I thought my Leinster career was over. I came off at half-time in the Castres game and I didn’t play for a while.
“I’m just happy I got back in there. It is a pity Felipe got injured. He helped me hugely today before the game. He spoke to me and said ‘Go out there and try to get man of the match and you will f*** up. Just go out there and play for the team. If you do that your performance will take care of itself’.”
The changing of the guard may be a while off yet, but judging from developments in Vancouver, Ronan O’Gara need only be concerned with one rival from now until the 2011 World Cup.
It may do the Munster veteran no harm, having held an unhealthy monopoly over the Test match number 10 jersey since David Humphreys was put out to pasture by Eddie O’Sullivan.
All that is irrelevant now.
Sexton was a Rolls Royce of a schools player at St Mary’s College. Blessed with that natural, gliding ability, but too raw for immediate promotion. Too many flaws hindered undisguised talent. Buckets of confidence though.
Former Leinster assistant coach and Wallaby outhalf David Knox helped to mould his passing game, but no one could have imagined Sexton would hold his nerve in Croke Park against Munster, never mind move up a gear in the Heineken Cup final.
The drop goal was world class; he got the idea from London Irish fullback Peter Hewat against Leicester in the English Premiership final. The head-on tackle on Alesana Tuilagi denied a certain try. Gordon D’Arcy was just held up marginally short after a delicate inside pass from his outhalf, who routinely tested the Tigers defensive solidity.
His tactical kicking was compared to the best in the business, O’Gara. Place-kicking percentage returns needs more examination, but at least we know when the pressure approaches boiling point, Sexton has no problem delivering.
The drop goal? “I just saw London Irish do it last week off a clearance and it was sort of in my head. I’ve probably never hit one from that distance and probably never will again. It was just one of those things. I probably didn’t strike my place-kicks that well but a few of them went over.”
The winning penalty? “I was just going through my routine. I will have to shorten down that routine. It takes too long. I didn’t connect great. It just snuck over. Happy it got over.”
The media enveloped him afterwards. Some players struggle in these environments but Sexton seems as relaxed as when he is playing. Nothing seems to intimidate him, so when he described the horror lead-in to the game it revealed the psychological trauma these men must go through to achieve such a lofty honour.
“I had the worst few days I’ve had before a game. I should probably see someone about it. Not sleeping, thinking about the game, thinking about other things. I took a sleeping tablet last night just to get a good night’s rest. Once I got here, into the ground, I was fine, but the build-up to the game just killed me. It was worse than the Munster game, and I thought that was as bad as it could’ve got. I should probably look into that for the future important, big games.”
The combination of young, talented players like Sexton, Cian Healy, Rob Kearney and Luke Fitzgerald has provided the necessary balance with the senior guard so essential for this kind of success.
“Brian (O’Driscoll) said before the game he waited 10 years for this. The guys that are here like myself, Cian Healy, Seán O’Brien, Devon Toner in the squad, this is our first or second attempt while guys have been waiting their whole career for this.”
When asked about his international aspirations, without a hint of arrogance, he replied: “Obviously O’Gara is still there. It is stuff that I can only dream about doing. I took one step today but he is the man of the season. He is probably going play for the Lions this summer. I’ve still got a lot of work to do. Going in the right direction, but it is not for me to decide whether I am able to step up to that level.
“I’ll just keep playing as well as I can and hopefully he (Declan Kidney) will give me the nod in the autumn.”
