| Venue: Stade de Bordeaux, Bordeaux Date: Saturday, 9 September Kick-off: 14:30 BST |
| Coverage: Listen to live commentary on BBC Radio 5 Live, BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Sounds and online; follow text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app. |
As Johnny Sexton gears up for one last dance, it is fair to say his farewell year has brought ecstasy and pain in equal measure.
The highs have been truly epic. In a career crammed with lofty accomplishments, captaining Ireland to the Grand Slam against England on home soil was arguably his finest hour.
Indeed, having surpassed predecessor Ronan O’Gara’s Six Nations scoring record that day, he compared the Grand Slam to “living in a dream”.
It wasn’t long, however, before Sexton was jolted out of his reverie. The groin injury that forced him off against England was a season-ender.
Sidelined, Sexton was robbed of a closing chapter with Leinster. He watched on as La Rochelle – coached by Munster icon O’Gara – stormed Dublin and took the European Cup back to France.
Enraged by Jaco Peyper’s performance, Sexton’s decision to confront the referee in the immediate aftermath of that game plunged his World Cup participation into doubt.
But the rugby gods, who have gifted the fly-half with a supreme right foot and a magnetic aura only few are blessed with, chose mercy.
Slapped with a three-match ban, Sexton was denied the pageantry of a Lansdowne Road farewell against England last month before Ireland jetted off to France.
It stung, but it was a small price to pay given that he still has the chance to go where no Irish captain has gone before in rugby’s most illustrious arena.
On Saturday afternoon, Sexton will lead Ireland out in the bruising Bordeaux heat for the start of what is probably the most keenly-anticipated World Cup odyssey in the team’s history.
‘I’m happy with where I’m at’
He will stride on to the Stade de Bordeaux pitch having not kicked a ball competitively in nearly six months.
Sexton’s readiness was an inevitable topic during his pre-match media duties. Sitting beside head coach Andy Farrell, the 38-year-old was asked if he has adjusted his kicking sessions since having groin surgery.
“I haven’t changed much,” said Sexton.
“The early stages, I had to be very careful on the back of the surgeon’s advice, just making sure I built into it, but over the last month I’ve been able to practice a good bit and trying to keep it little and often really.
“Trying to do bits every day, even on a day off today, trying to get down for 20 minutes and do a little bit and then move on.
“I’m very happy with where I’m at, obviously going into a game a little bit different but hopefully I can lean back on experiences from before.”
Experiences? There have been a few in his 113 caps. Sexton has come a long way with Ireland. In the years after stepping out of O’Gara’s shadow, he masterfully positioned himself as Ireland’s conductor-in-chief. The metronome. The standard-setter. The inspiration. Then, finally, the leader.
He once played in an Ireland team that lost 60-0 to New Zealand. It remains Ireland’s darkest hour. Such humiliation would be enough to swallow some players up.
Not Sexton. The following year, in 2013, he left Leinster for Racing Metro. It proved a nightmarish venture, but he continued to thrive at Test level, emerging as a key figure in the British and Irish Lions’ successful tour to Australia before starring in Ireland’s Six Nations triumph – his first – in 2014.
Three more titles followed, the second of which kick-started his annus mirabilis in 2018 when he starred in Ireland’s Grand Slam, a first series win in Australia in 39 years, a memorable defeat of the All Blacks in Dublin and Champions Cup and Pro14 successes with Leinster, earning him World Rugby’s player of the year award.
Five years on and his prominence is still incontestable. Not even a Lions snub in 2021, which he admitted “hurt like hell”, could dim his desire to reach new heights.
His longevity in the cut-throat Test battleground has been both a blessing and a curse. Ireland have always been able to rely on him, but his shadow has loomed large over his potential successors down the years, with Joey Carbery the most high-profile casualty.
The next few weeks in France will be a golden chance for Ross Byrne, Sexton’s long-time understudy at Leinster, and newcomer Jack Crowley to audition for the number 10 jersey.
But make no mistake, even at 38 – the third-oldest World Cup player ever – Sexton is still Ireland’s main man in France.
Like every Irish player to have graced the World Cup, his relationship with the quadrennial showpiece has been fraught.
In 2011, having started Ireland’s first two pool games, Sexton was benched for the next two and then overlooked as O’Gara started the heartbreaking quarter-final defeat by Wales in Wellington, which remains the one that really got away from the Irish.
Four years later, in Ireland’s stirring win over France in Cardiff, a heavy challenge by the Les Bleus’ number eight Louis Picamoles dashed Sexton’s hopes of starting a World Cup quarter-final for the first time. Instead, he watched from the stands as Argentina sent Joe Schmidt’s side packing.
Then in 2019, a thigh niggle ruled him out of Ireland’s shock pool defeat by hosts Japan. A quarter-final thumping by the All Blacks followed. World Cup misery, Vol. III
Sexton insists he carries no World Cup baggage but he is undoubtedly pinning his hopes on better fortune in France, a country where has produced some of his finest moments in green – the Six Nations-sealing tries in 2014, the drop goal in 2018 – and some of his worst – his reaction to being substituted.
With retirement beckoning, does Ireland’s leader have one last almighty push in him?
It didn’t happen for Brian O’Driscoll, Paul O’Connell, Keith Wood or Rory Best. Will Sexton be the one to lead Ireland to the promised land? We don’t have long to find out. The show’s about to start.
