How Ronan O’Gara jibe fuelled Johnny Sexton’s drive to succeed

'I’ve spent a lot of time apologising for that moment over the years… At this stage, I’m actually glad that I did it. I was just being me'

SCORE-SETTLING: Jonathan Sexton and Ronan O'Gara exchange words. Pic: James Crombie

Johnny Sexton has revealed how being called a “nobody” by Ronan O’Gara drove him to visualise his rival’s face as a goal-kicking target and improve his accuracy in front of the posts.

The frosty relationship between Ireland’s two greatest fly-halves has been revisited in excerpts from Sexton’s forthcoming autobiography, extracts of which have appeared in The Sunday Times.