Jonathan Sexton now sees similarities between Racing Metro and Leinster
It wasn’t pretty but it earned the Parisians a precious four points and proved that the club once regarded as France’s Fancy Dans have added steel to their game this season.
It was a point made by Sexton in an interview with Midi Olympique yesterday in which the Ireland out-half looked forward to Sunday’s visit of Saracens in the Champions Cup quarter-final, while also reflecting on his three cup successes with Leinster. Asked if Leinster and Racing had any common ground, Sexton replied: “A year ago I wouldn’t have said so but since the start of the season there’s been a really exceptional spirit at the heart of this squad. We can feel this on the pitch, we play for each other and not with each other.”
Describing the Leinster squad as a “family”, Sexton added that this season at Racing: “I’ve rediscovered what I experienced in Ireland.”
Racing will need Sexton to display the same masterful control on Sunday that he shows so regularly for Ireland.
Saracens come to Paris quietly confident their greater European experience will play an important part, even if Sexton points to the fact that while this is Racing’s first appearance in the last eight they still have a squad of seasoned internationals. Nonetheless no one at Racing can boast of a European CV as impressive as Sexton’s, and he has this advice for his team-mates. “What’s most important is to concentrate on our performance,” he says.
“If we start to think about the opposition, the weather, the next match, we become distracted and we will have no chance.”
If Racing are to have a chance of winning the inaugural Champions Cup, Sexton believes they must emulate Leinster during their glory years when they won three titles in four seasons.
“A team, even composed of big names, is nothing without a really strong unity and a rigorous discipline,” he says.
Not surprisingly, Sexton cites the 2011 triumph as the pick of his three victories, that unforgettable occasion when Leinster rose from the dead to beat Northampton 33-22 after trailing 22-6 at the break.
“It was perhaps the most beautiful day of my career,” he reflects. “At the end of the first-half everybody thought the match was done and dusted.”
It’s hard to overstate the importance to Racing of Sexton, not just for his goalkicking but also his on-field authority, and his determination to return home in the summer with some silverware.
“Before leaving Racing I want to win a trophy,” he says. “If I don’t, then my time in France will be a personal failure...[and] If I return to Ireland without a trophy everyone will say I was wrong to go and play at Racing.”
And has he pondered the possibility that Racing might meet Leinster in the Champions Cup final on May 2 at Twickenham. “If we win the cup by beating Leinster in the final, I’ll stay at Racing,” he says.
It’s a joke, but one that fools his French interviewer. Really? he asks. “No, it’s not possible,” replies Sexton, laughing. “There’s no more money for my contract. The president’s given it all to Dan Carter!”
Out-half: I’ll return a failure if we don’t win a trophy this season
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