‘Sexton is the Ibrahimovic of rugby’
However, whereas the French fell in love with the English fly-half during his five years at Toulon, for Sexton they felt nothing other than cool respect in the two seasons he spent with Racing 92.
Wilkinson learned the language and tolerated the cultural differences but Sexton never made any secret of the fact he was in France for professional reasons.
He was homesick for long periods and didn’t care who knew it, and the man who bore the brunt of his discomfort was Racing backs coach Laurent Labit.
Midi Olympique profiled Sexton in its Monday edition and for the first time Labit elaborated in detail on his difficult relationship with the Ireland fly-half.
He’s spoken before about Sexton but this time he was more measured, more thoughtful and more revealing of just what passed between them in Paris.
“His departure is a failure,” admitted Labit, himself a complicated character who has had several runs-in with rugby authorities because of his plain-speaking. “For him and for me. We never succeeded in finding a good way to function.”
Labit was at pains to point out he and Sexton parted on civil terms, and he said coaching the player “was a rich experience”.
Nonetheless, he was clearly a player the likes of which Labit had never before encountered.
“Johnny is someone who is perpetually putting everything in question, and who obliges you to be constantly on alert.”
This unflinching pursuit of excellence, explained Labit, caused friction among his Racing teammates initially because they weren’t used to a player who valued perfection before popularity. According to Midi Olympique this led to “several altercations”, but Sexton was as hard on himself as he was on his teammates.
“He didn’t always perform for Racing and he knew it,” said Labit. “And it irritated him very much.”
Frustrated with himself and his teammates, and pining for home, Sexton often raged against the world on the training ground.
“Several times I had to remind him that there are certain ways of expressing things,” Labit told Midi Olympique. “Jonathan had the tendency to employ a rather forceful manner and use a colourful language in the heat of the moment. Sometimes it bordered on insults... at some moments Jonathan was really uncontrollable.”
If a teammate made a mistake, continued Labit, Sexton “was capable of really slagging him off”, to the point where the Racing coach felt like tearing out his hair.
Gradually, however, Labit came to better understand Sexton’s character. It’s clear the pair never became good friends but that a respect developed.
“He’s a perfectionist,” says the Frenchman. “He doesn’t leave any room for failure. And because of this he doesn’t understand why his teammates aren’t more like him. That explains his incomprehension with the other players. He doesn’t accept that others should spend less time than him preparing for a match, and with his character he had trouble with that.”
But whatever was said on the training ground always stayed there, and by his second season Sexton was more at ease at Racing. His teammates now knew his character and accepted his idiosyncrasies, helped to a large extent by Ronan O’Gara, the club’s kicking coach since 2013. He had to explain to Labit that in Irish rugby the fly-half is the decision maker and not, as has been traditionally the case in France, the scrum-half.
Labit got the message.
“Over there, he’s the boss, the quarter-back of rugby,” he said of Sexton’s status in Ireland. “It’s he who takes all the decisions.”
The extent of Sexton’s standing in his native land was brought home to Labit in October last year. Ireland had a three-day training camp, originally scheduled for Monday to Wednesday; but because Racing had played Treviso on the Sunday Ireland coach Joe Schmidt had extended it to the Thursday in order that Sexton could be present for three full days. Labit pointed out to Schmidt that the international release window closed on the Wednesday evening, so he would expect Sexton back at Racing training on Thursday morning. “To which Joe replied: ‘If Johnny is not there, we can’t train’.”
Reading the interview with Labit, it’s clear he learned from working with Sexton, even if their relationship was at times fraught. What, if anything, Sexton took away from his two years with Racing is less obvious. They failed to reach the Top 14 final while a quarter-final appearance was the best that they managed in the Champions Cup.
As for Sexton’s former teammates, they appear to admire the player more than the man. “He’s the Zlatan Ibrahimovic of rugby,” an anonymous Racing player confided to Midi Olympique. Like the Paris Saint-Germain striker, Sexton might not be popular but he’s a player everyone looks up to.
