Sexton so happy to face Boks again

A broad smile colonises Jonathan Sexton’s chiselled features as his mind rewinds three years to the first time he faced the Springboks.

It was November 2009, a week after his senior debut against Fiji at the RDS, and it remains crystallised in his thoughts: the early, calming penalty goal, the hit on Victor Matfield after racing out of the defensive line and Brian O’Driscoll’s late, kamikaze tackle on Zane Kirchner that assured the victory as the fog descended over Croke Park.

Sexton kicked all five penalties in a famous 15-10 win and, though he walked off cradling a broken hand that would sideline him for almost two months, he embraced the upside that night and threw himself into the celebrations and initiations held over from his first cap a week before.