John Fogarty, the British & Irish Lions assistant coach, relayed a story about Johnny Sexton the other day that neatly spoke to the heart of his subject.
Fogarty’s formal role is to oversee scrummaging, but just as important is his unofficial position as the head of craic. “I’m starting to feel like one of those comfort dogs,” he said, jokingly. He arranges a little game for the players each day, and last week pitted forwards against backs in a challenge that required them to head a football between each other and then finally into a wheelie bin.
The forwards did it twice, enough to win the challenge. The backs, under Sexton’s charge, managed it only once. It is fair to say that Sexton did not take the result well.
The Ireland legend has a wealth of experience to pass on to the Lions No10s, including Fin Smith
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“Johnny, surprise, surprise, questioned the referee — me — and has done a review of it,” Fogarty said. “There’s always guys that spoil things; Johnny is one of them still!”
Sexton’s competitive edge was renowned during a career in which he won 118 Ireland caps and almost every major trophy other than the World Cup. He followed retirement in 2023 with a brief stint in business but quietly slipped back into the Irish coaching team last year, and is now an assistant on this Lions tour. Yet it is not always a given that players of his ability will succeed as coaches.
“Coaching is not an exact science. Just because you know it on the field doesn’t mean you can articulate it to others,” Michael Cheika, who coached Sexton at Leinster for four years when he burst into the senior team in 2006, says.
“You’ve got to have the ability to turn what you can do to other people, who maybe can’t do the same things that you could have done.”
Ronan O’Gara, Sexton’s predecessor as Ireland’s fly half, is proving that you can be a great player, then a great coach. The 48-year-old has already led La Rochelle to two Champions Cup titles and will surely become a Test coach soon. Andy Farrell has made a successful transition, as has France’s head coach and former scrum half Fabien Galthié. But several of the other dominant figures in rugby coaching were not world-leading players.
Sexton, right, was quick to eradicate any sniff of conflict with Russell, left, who pipped him to a place on the 2021 tour much to Irish legend’s deep disquiet
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So Sexton’s challenge now is to facilitate, not dominate, if he is to back up his playing successes as a coach. For years, his drive and intensity was his trump card. Now he has to be empathetic and collegiate with the Lions No10s Finn Russell — whom he did not think should be on this tour in the first place — and the Smiths, Fin and Marcus.
Those who know him well believe he will change, but only to a degree. Might he at least be a bit quieter as a coach? “I’d say no,” says Les Kiss, who coached Sexton with Ireland between 2009 and 2015 and is now in the opposite box, preparing his Queensland Reds team to face the Lions on Wednesday in Brisbane.
“This coaching game can frustrate the hell out of you sometimes. He’s got to be himself. He can be quite emotional, but I think that’s a strength of his as well. He brings out his energy in the right way and he can fire you up too.
“Just because you know the game and you can talk to tactics and you can be a good pundit, that doesn’t transfer to being a good coach. There’s a lot of things about building rapport, building relationships, creating a psychological environment that’s safe but challenging at the same time.
Kiss, right, coached Sexton for six years with Ireland and believes his former charge has the skills to succeed
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“The good players that can’t make it don’t get it. The good players that do, they transfer that quickly into knowledge, into an understanding that players can get their head into and then help them get better every day. Not only with their footballing skills but with their emotional skills, their psychological skills. I see that in Sexton.”
It has been put to Sexton on this trip that he might get a game at No10 if injuries mount. That semi-serious suggestion is not that ludicrous, especially as he filled in at fly half in the pre-tour training sessions in Portugal. However, he would not fancy facing the First Nations & Pasifika side on July 22, between the first and second Tests, if they are full of hungry Islanders looking to rearrange his ribs, now he is 39 (40 in July) and retired.
Cheika believes Sexton will transfer his playing skills well. “He’s very knowledgeable, and he’ll be able to guide younger players around with kicking, and handling the pressure, but also being aggressive,” he said. “It’s a good opportunity for him at the pointy end of the triangle, so I’m sure he’ll find out pretty quickly if he likes it or not.”
Kiss thinks that Farrell bringing Sexton here is a masterstroke. The fly half who implemented Schmidt’s plans with Ireland for years, he is the best man to help unpick the tactics of the Wallabies coach.
“Bringing him along is another layer of weaponry,” Kiss said. “He’s one of the best competitors I’ve ever seen. That’s going to flow through the team in some form. It might just be in front of a computer, or while they’re doing some kicking.
“He does have that gift to impart a bit of wisdom and a bit of competitive mongrel in you. He’s going to be fairly important for what they build over the next 2½ weeks before the Test matches.”
So you might see and hear Sexton less, as he is buried underneath his Lions coaching cap and stuck behind a plastic screen at stadiums around Australia, but be assured that he is a pivotal cog. This tour’s success may even be defined by how much he can enhance the Lions’ plans — and ruin Australia’s.