Brian O'Driscoll backs Johnny Sexton to hit the ground running

LAUNCH: Pictured at Aviva Stadium is Guinness Ambassador, Brian O’Driscoll who has teamed up with Guinness to help launch their new rugby campaign ‘Don’t Jinx It’. Pic: INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

It's close to a decade now since Brian O’Driscoll hung up the boots but there are still strong ties that bind the former centre to an Ireland squad that will look to sever links with the country’s abysmal World Cup record this next few weeks.

All told, there are eight among Andy Farrell’s current collective that shared a senior dressing-room with O’Driscoll back in the day. None of them spent more time rubbing shoulders with him than Johnny Sexton.

O’Driscoll has spoken about his old mucker’s abilities, and his longevity, time and again in the recent past but the task facing the Ireland captain now is new ground as he braces for his return from suspension and injury.

A grand total of 25 weeks will have elapsed since his last game by the time Sexton takes to the field for Ireland against Romania in Bordeaux at the weekend. The bones of half a calendar year, basically, and him already beyond his 38th birthday.

O’Driscoll was always one of those who needed a handful of games to rediscover his stride after an absence but he has lauded Sexton more than once for an ability to take off again with minimal runway behind him.

“I imagine he'll start the first game, maybe sit on the bench against Tonga then come on for 20 minutes if needs be. And then we've got to start him in the biggest games in the pool, against South Africa and against Scotland.

“So it is a really big ask of Johnny at 38 years of age, but he's put himself in the mix to finally achieve something on this stage and if anyone is capable of doing it at his age, knowing his professionalism, well it is Sexto.

“We'll all be holding our breath with every impact, with every collision that he's involved in,” he explained on the launch of the Guinness ‘Don’t Jinx It’ campaign, “but that hasn't been any different to the last three or four years anyway.” 

This will be Sexton’s fourth World Cup and, despite the draw, his best chance of helping Ireland to break beyond the barrier that is the quarter-final stage since they let slip a golden opportunity against Wales in the last eight back in 2011.

He wasn’t just younger then. He was more impetuous and embroiled in a duel for the No 10 jersey with Ronan O’Gara which continued through the tournament as Declan Kidney switched between the old hand and the young Turk.

“I don’t know the specifics about his mindset around then,” said O’Driscoll. “Obviously he was in and out and he wasn’t selected for the quarter-final and he came on. Johnny was only two years into his international tenure at that stage.

“And I’m sure by his own admission as well, certainly he didn’t necessarily have the temperament that a strong international ten possesses. We’ve seen a massive evolution over the course of the last number of years.” 

The Leinster veteran’s hold on the out-half’s jersey since O’Gara’s retirement has been all but total with understudies including Ian Madigan, Paddy Jackson, and Joey Carbery coming and going again while he remains resolute in place.

The disappearance of Carbery from the Test stage was swift when it happened but it came late enough in the cycle to leave Ireland yet again playing catch-up in terms of an understudy that had enough exposure to the international game.

Ross Byrne and Jack Crowley are both capable operators but neither has a comforting volume of games – and starts – under their belts at this rarified level although the perception is that the Munster man has made up major ground on Byrne.

“I would need to know the comfort of what he has been like at training,” said O’Driscoll. “I want to have seen the clarity of game plan of his decision-making, of what he has offered in comparison to Ross. I would probably be making my decision off the back of that rather than from what I have seen in a warm-up game.

“Jack Crowley has probably got a little bit more capacity and a greater ceiling but Ross has come in and done a great job for Ireland in clutch moments and kicking goals. He has a very secure set of hands. We’ll have to wait and see in that all-important first 23-man squad as to what the pecking order is.”