Johnny Sexton seeks to make Leinster drive for five alive

By Ciarán Ó Raghallaigh

Johnny Sexton says Leinster are motivated by the opportunity to stand out on their own as Europe’s most successful team.

The Irish province won their fourth European title last May when they beat Racing 92 in northern Spain, a trophy that put them joint top of the all-time standings with Toulouse.

The pair face off in Pool 1 of this season’s Heineken Champions Cup, and if Leinster get their hands on another title, they will be the first club to ever reach five.

Speaking at the launch of this season’s competition in Aviva Stadium, Sexton revealed Leo Cullen, heading into his fourth season in charge of the province, sold him on this idea three years ago.

It seemed miles apart when the province flopped in Cullen’s first season in charge, failing to get out of the pool, but they made it to the semi-final a year later and finally got their hands on a fourth title in Bilbao last May.

“That’s a motivation for us now, isn’t it, I think it’s a big driver,” said Sexton.

We spoke about that when Stuart first came in and Leo painted a picture of what we wanted to look like in a few years time, and having five stars would top of the list.

“So we had a big motivation to get to that fourth star and match Toulouse, and we matched the top of our domestic league as well with the most wins there.

“Now it’s about building on it. I don’t think the motivation has changed. I don’t feel any different anyway. I hope the other guys feel the same. I think if you’d looked at the last few weeks, we looked pretty motivated, I think.”

Named Leinster’s skipper last summer, Sexton will have a key role to play in leading the province to the promised land in Newcastle next May.

Sexton, 33, knows all about the highs and lows of European rugby, and will make sure the younger generation who made such an impact last season don’t take success for granted — like he once did.

I suppose that’s the benefit of having a bit of experience, when I first broke into the Leinster team we had this period of success when we are in a final, or two finals, almost every year for about four years and you sort of think it’s a little bit easy,” he said.

“But then a couple of coaches leave, a couple of players leave, and suddenly you’re years without success, so you want to make the most of it when things are perceived to be good and you’ve got a good squad.

“That’s what I’ll try and get across to Jordan Larmour and James Ryan who came along and won everything in their first season.”