To be first on the road, Up with the ground-mists and pheasants. To be older and grateful.

Johnny Sexton shares with the great Irish poet, Seamus Heaney, a mastery of his craft and an understanding of the benefits of being first on the road. Since he slotted that drop goal in the dying moments of the Leinster School Cup Final in 2002 to take his school, St Mary’s College, Dublin, to victory, Johnny Sexton has led from the front and been one step ahead of the play.

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To put all his medals on the table tells only part of the story – he played with distinction for Leinster and Racing 92, captained Ireland from 2019 – 2023, represented the British & Irish Lions on the 2013 & 2017 tours, won the World Rugby Player of the Year award in 2018 and he is the all-time record point scorer for Ireland.

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Sexton is as Irish as the ground-mists and pheasants that adorn the early rural mornings on the island. He was born in Rathgar, Dublin, a nephew of former Garryowen, Munster and Ireland player, William Sexton. Johnny’s father was a long-standing member of Bective Rangers in Donnybrook and on Saturday mornings he was taken to play mini rugby for Bective Rangers. In many ways Sexton epitomises the much vaunted Irish player pathway, after his secondary education at St Mary’s College, he went on to take a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University College Dublin. Sexton’s rugby career was fashioned, refined and found expression across every threshold of the Irish rugby system.

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Those who are first on the road are often driven by burning ambition and unrivalled competitiveness. Opinions may vary on such individuals, Sexton arrived at the rugby world cup under a cloud, having missed Ireland’s warm-up games after receiving a three-game ban for being ‘confrontational and aggressive’ towards referee Jaco Peyper and his fellow officials in the aftermath of Leinster’s Champions Cup loss to La Rochelle in May.

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On the final whistle of the heart-breaking quarter-final at the Stade de France on Saturday, Johnny presented as the now familiar riddle wrapped inside an enigma; he hurled invective at the New Zealand centre, Ricko Ioane, during the post-match handshakes and had to be ushered away by Jack Conan before things escalated. Moments later, he was serenely holding the hand of his son, Luca, thanking the crowd on the pitch and, thereafter, in the press conference ‘for getting behind the team like no other.’

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The anger, the burning competitiveness, the tackles on the edge of legality, in part, defined his greatness, it is what drove his Ireland team to the heights witnessed over the last 18 months. However, let our final image of the older and grateful Johnny Sexton be that of his son, Luca, looking up at his father through tears, seen to say: ‘You’re still the best, Dad.’

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