How Sexton’s speech salvaged Leinster’s cup dream

JONATHAN SEXTON’S half-time speech to his team-mates has already entered rugby folklore for the way it inspired a remarkable turnaround in the province’s fortunes.

In disarray after shipping three first-half tries to a rampant Northampton side and trailing by 16 points, Leinster were by common consent dead and buried. That was until the 25-year-old’s words echoed around the Millennium Stadium dressing room and lifted the Irish side to a sublime fight back that had turned a 22-6 deficit into a 23-22 lead just 17 minutes after the restart, Sexton himself scoring two tries, two conversions and a penalty to lay the platform for the famous 33-22 victory.

“Besides what he produced in the second half, some of his words at half-time really struck a chord with a lot of people,” Brian O’Driscoll said.

“He mentioned about how this will make it all the more memorable because of what we have to do now.

“You could just see he had the bit between the teeth and he was ready for it. To pick up two tries and a great kicking performance and just control the way he did, it was a phenomenal second-half performance from him.”

Of the half-time address, O’Driscoll added: “He speaks when the time needs it but I think he really stood up to the plate this time around and was there to be a senior player as a ten. You need your ten to be a senior player and a leader and he was very much that today.”

The hero himself was rather more modest about his contribution at the break, repeatedly rebuffing enquiries as to the content of speech.

“It wasn’t just me. A good few people spoke, about just holding the ball, sorting out our set piece and our management team were very calm, just told us what we needed to do and it was all about getting that next score,” Sexton said.

“If Northampton got it, it was probably game over and we just came out of the blocks and regained the ball straight away and luckily we got over the line and changed the momentum of the game.”

What is clear is that Sexton channelled Liverpool’s remarkable 2005 Champions League final comeback from 3-0 at half-time against AC Milan.

“I just said stuff like this happens in sport. I probably watch too much of it, get slagged for it, but when you say stuff at half-time you don’t really know what you’re saying half the time. It was just one of those things I suppose, just stuck in my memory for some reason.”

Sexton also spoke about the way Munster had done the same thing to Leinster, the fly-half having seen his side’s half-time 20-9 lead in Limerick last month in the Magners League turned into a 24-23 defeat.

“I suppose the same thing happened to us at Thomond Park when the other team gets the next score (after half-time) and gets a bit of momentum going it’s hard to stop. The crowd really got into it and it just snowballed from there.

I didn’t think it was going to go as well as it did but it’s just a special day I suppose.”

Certainly more special than his first Heineken Cup final success two years earlier. “This means more to me this time because I played every game. Last time I played in only a couple of halves in the group games and then got thrown in there in the semi-final for another half and played the final. So it was really a case back then of coming in and doing a job for the lads. It was their cup. Now I’m just happy that I’ve played a part in all the games this year.”