Mid-morning on Thursday and Johnny Sexton is announced as the latest coaching addition to the British and Irish Lions – or, perhaps, the Irish and British Lions.
Immediately, the talk turns to what this means for Finn Russell, given Sexton’s barbed comments about the Scotland fly-half as recently as February. Doomsday for Finn?
An interview Sexton gave to The Times last autumn will get a hell of an airing over the next few months. Sexton said being overlooked for the last Lions tour in 2021 “kills me to this day”, an angst that came across strongly in his autobiography, published last year.
He expected Owen Farrell and Dan Biggar to be picked but couldn’t understand why coach Warren Gatland went with Russell ahead of him.
Sexton and Russell are polar opposites as players and people. They see the game in different ways. Sexton, clearly, has a beef with Russell – or with the coverage he inspires.
Hence, the alarm in the Russell camp at the news of Sexton’s elevation. That’s an Ireland head coach, an Ireland attack coach and now Sexton running the show in Australia.
There’s fast-tracking and then there’s this. For the 2024 November internationals, Sexton was given a vague job title in Andy Farrell’s Ireland coaching ticket – consultant.
When the Six Nations swung around, he was still involved, but again his remit was not wholly specific – kicking advisor, mentoring the Ireland fly-halves, contributing his thoughts on the attack.
After a single-figures Test involvement as a coach/mentor, Sexton is now a Lions coach. The new Neil Jenkins, as it were.
That interview last year shone a light on Sexton’s views on Russell, revealing some of the things that have built up over the years but were never voiced in public.
The Irishman called Russell “flashy” and a “media darling” in that piece. He has long held the view the Scotland fly-half is talented but showy, but this was the first time he said it on the record. He didn’t exactly ask ‘where’s your medals?’ but it was implied. His words were put-downs.
He also called England’s Marcus Smith flashy, but then rowed back. He called Smith a generational talent who can manage a game while lighting it up. There was no such readjustment of his opinion on Russell.
In fact, he went one further. Who would Sexton pick as the starting Test 10 in Australia? Most observers would have said – and would still say – Russell. “I’d pick Owen Farrell,” said Sexton of the Lions coach’s son.
“Who do you want in there when the going gets tough? Test match animals. I know who the media would want. Finn Russell, Marcus Smith, the flashy…”
You can almost hear the words being spat out. Who do you want in the trenches? Who’s the Test match animal? Not Russell. The Scot remained stoic when all this was put to him. This stuff has been one-way traffic, from Sexton to Russell. The Bath man has only ever said nice things about Sexton.
It’s easy to interpret this as bad news for Russell and good news for Owen Farrell (and Sam Prendergast). Sexton is a Prendergast fan and also a huge admirer of Farrell, a truly great 10 in his day but one who has played just 14 games for a struggling Racing this season (including three yellow cards).
Farrell, 33, has had only three starts this year and has played just 139 minutes since the end of January. He has no form, but his stock may have risen on Thursday. His father could pick him – the squad is named on 8 May, so time is running out – but he’d be open to accusations of favouritism, fair or otherwise.
Now Farrell junior has an independent champion in Sexton and his voice on who should play 10 will carry serious weight. It’s all very intriguing.
What’s also interesting is that in his new role, Sexton is now going to have start looking at Russell through a coach’s eyes rather than with the bitterness of a rival player.
All he has seen up to now is a talented operator but one who is, in his one-eyed opinion, over-praised in the media while winning virtually nothing, a guy who unjustly took his Lions place in 2021 and broke his heart.
Maybe now he’ll see things in Russell he has never allowed himself to see before. Maybe. The two men were (briefly) Lions together in 2017 and played against each other numerous times over the years, but there’s no relationship there, no bond.
One of the beauties of the Lions is how strangers and arch rivals can become team-mates and friends in the relative blink of an eye on tour. Sexton and Russell will be another test of that.
