Johnny Sexton: Difference between revisions
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'''Jonathan Sexton''' is a [[rugby union]] player for [[Ireland national rugby union team|Ireland]] and [[Leinster Rugby]] in the [[Pro12]] and [[Heineken Cup]]. |
'''Jonathan 'Johnny' Sexton''' is a [[rugby union]] player for [[Ireland national rugby union team|Ireland]] and [[Leinster Rugby]] in the [[Pro12]] and [[Heineken Cup]]. |
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Sexton is registered to [[St. Mary's College RFC]] who play in [[AIB League - Division 1#AIB League Division 1 Season 2007-08|AIB League Division 1]]. He plays as [[Fly-half (rugby union)|Fly-half]] but has played several different positions in the back-line. |
Sexton is registered to [[St. Mary's College RFC]] who play in [[AIB League - Division 1#AIB League Division 1 Season 2007-08|AIB League Division 1]]. He plays as [[Fly-half (rugby union)|Fly-half]] but has played several different positions in the back-line. |
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Revision as of 16:39, 7 June 2013
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| Birth name | Jonathan Sexton | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Date of birth | 11 July 1985 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Dublin, Ireland | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.88 m (6 ft 2 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 92 kg (14.5 st) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| School | St Mary's College | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Jonathan 'Johnny' Sexton is a rugby union player for Ireland and Leinster Rugby in the Pro12 and Heineken Cup.
Sexton is registered to St. Mary's College RFC who play in AIB League Division 1. He plays as Fly-half but has played several different positions in the back-line.
In May 2012 former Ireland and Leinster great Ollie Campbell stated before Leinster's unprecedented 3rd European Cup in four years that Sexton is a class act with hardly any weaknesses, and that during Leinster's rise to the summit of European rugby the only significant Heineken Cup defeat over the last four seasons occurred when Jonathan Sexton was not playing.[2]
He is one of two fly halves selected for the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia along with Owen Farrell.[3]
Early Years
Sexton was born in Dublin but has family ties to North Kerry; he is a nephew of former Garryowen, Munster and Ireland rugby player William Sexton.[4] He attended St. Mary's College in Dublin and scored a drop goal in the dying moments of the school's 2002 Leinster Senior Cup final win. Due to his wonderful performances at St. Mary's Sexton was given a chance to play for Leinster. He made his debut against Border Reivers in 2006.
Leinster
Sexton was part of Leinster's Celtic League winning side in 2007–08. On 2 May 2009, he established himself in the Leinster first team replacing the injured Argentine fly-half Felipe Contepomi as an early substitute in the Heineken Cup semi-final to help Leinster beat rivals Munster a convincing 25–6. He then started in Leinster's home match against the Scarlets in the Celtic League, scoring 15 points (including a try) in a man of the match performance.
Contepomi's cruciate ligament injury ruled him out for the rest of Leinster's campaign, he signed for French giants [Stade Francais] the following season. Sexton started the 2009 Heineken Cup Final against Leicester Tigers, and kicked a spectacular drop goal from the halfway line and also kicked the winning penalty (a total of 11 points,2 penalties, 1 drop goal and 1 conversion). Leinster went on to win their first European Cup 16-19 at Murrayfield.[5]
Upon recovering from a hand injury sustained during the Ireland South Africa autumn international fixture in 2009 Sexton helped Leinster to secure a bonus point win over Brive in the Heineken Cup to take command of their pool. The following week in their pool decider Sexton scored a sensational drop goal in the dying minutes against London Irish at Twickenham to even up the score at eleven all. His drop goal secured Leinster a home advantage in the Heineken Cup quarter finals and knocked the Exiles out of the competition. Sexton's ability was highlighted upon his return from injury in the 2010/11 where he helped Leinster recover from a shaky start to the season as a second half substitute in their win over Munster in the Celtic League. Following this victory he helped Leinster to wins over Racing Metro and Saracens in the Heineken Cup. In the second match he received a man of the match award after scoring twenty-five points, including a try, giving his team the top spot in a pool regarded as one of the most competitive in Heineken Cup history. A poll taken by planetrugby.com following these performances suggested that Sexton is currently regarded as the top fly-half in Europe.
During Leinster's 2011 Heineken Cup final against the Northampton Saints, Sexton scored 28 points including 2 tries in a historic and greatest comeback in a European Cup rugby final. They beat Northampton 33-22 at the Millennium Stadium after falling 22-6 down at halftime, earning Sexton a man of the match award and his second Heineken Cup medal. His 28 points in that match makes him the second-highest scorer in one game in Heineken Cup history. Irish Independent writer and Listowel publican Billy Keane, who is the son of renowned writer John B. Keane and Jonathan's godfather, stated Sexton's career-defining performance was dedicated to his late grandfather, John Sexton — the hugely popular Listowel businessman who died a few months earlier.[6]
However, Sexton and Leinster could not snatch the first Heineken Cup and Celtic League double that season, with the club losing to Munster in the Final.
In May 2012 Irish heavyweights Leinster and Sexton achieved their third Heineken Cup triumph in four seasons against Irish rivals Ulster as they established themselves as true giants of the European game. First-half tries by flanker Sean O'Brien and prop Cian Healy put Leinster on the way towards a record-breaking triumph. Leinster's reign as Heineken Cup holders was never seriously threatened in front of almost 82,000 spectators at Twickenham. Jonathan Sexton kicked three conversions and three penalties for a 15-point haul as Leinster became the first team since Leicester Tigers in 2002 to successfully defend the Heineken Cup. When replacement prop Heinke van der Merwe and Sean Cronin scored near full-time it gave Leinster the biggest ever winning margin in a Heineken Cup final, Leinster 42-14 Ulster.[7]
In January 2013 Sexton informed the IRFU he would not be renewing his contract with Leinster. He will leave the province at the end of the 2012/13 season.[8]
2005-06
Sexton began his Leinster Rugby career playing only one game in the 2005-06 season. This was because of his excellent performances for St.Mary's. He came on as a substitute against the Border Reivers.
2006-07
Sexton played three games in the 2006-07 season playing against Ospreys in which he scored a conversion against the Welsh team. He played twelve minutes in that match. He then scored a further nine points for Leinster Rugby and Ulster and Munster Rugby. He then totaled 3 penalties in that season plus one conversion in 143 minutes.
2007-08
In the 2007-08 season Leinster knew Sexton was going to become an exciting player and he started against Edinburgh Rugby in which he scored one try, one conversion and two penalties. He then scored his second try of the season against Cardiff Blues in which he scored a further two conversions and two penalties. He then followed that up against the Scarlets in which he scored one conversion and two penalties. He ended 2007 scoring a further 23 points against Ulster Rugby and Glasgow Warriors. He then finished the season finding points against Munster Rugby and newport gwent dragons.
That totaled 73 points for 2007-08.
2008-09
At the start of the season Sexton played seven matches against Cardiff Blues, Edinburgh Rugby and Munster Rugby in September. In October he played against Connacht Rugby, Edinburgh Rugby, London Wasps and Glasgow Warriors. He finished the season on a high scoring sixty-four points after November to end a good season. He got a call up to the ireland team for the 2008 six nations but was ruled out by injury.
2009-10
Sexton played against Scarlets,Dragons,Ospreys,Edinburgh,Munster,London Irish,Brive,Ulster and Cardiff before being called up to the Ireland team for a match against Fiji. He scored five conversions and two penalties in that match. He then played againstSouth Africa scoring five penalties. In 2010 Sexton played six games for Ireland scoring thirty-seven points in matches against England,Wales,Scotland,New Zealand and Australia.
2010-11
Sexton played 19 times for Leinster Rugby that season smashing over 237 points. He scored two tries as Leinster won the Heineken Cup after trailing 22-6 at half time to win the match 33-22. Leinster then had the chance to add a second trophy by winning the Pro 12. But they did not with Sexton kicking 3 penalties Munster beat them 19-9 in the final. Sexton then went to international duty and played in matches against South Africa, New Zealand and Argentina. He scored 34 points in those tests but then he had to prepare for the 2011 Six Nations Championship. He played the first game in the win against Italy being replaced by Ronan O'Gara who scored the winning drop goal. He then started in the 22-25 defeat against France but Sexton was then dropped to the bench against Scotland because of O'Gara's leading form. He then was dropped to the bench against Wales. Against England though Sexton was started and kicked fourteen of the points in a famous 24-9 win.
2011-12
Sexton played 16 games for Leinster in 2011-12 scoring 1 try,29 conversions,3 drop goals and 4 penalties. He totaled 213 points overall. He won the Heineken cup with Leinster that year and came runners up in the RaboDirect pro 12 only to lose out to Ospreys in the final. He played all five matches in the six nations in which he started all of them.
Ireland
Sexton was selected as part of the Ireland squad for the 2008 Six Nations Championship but sustained a fractured thumb shortly beforehand playing for Leinster.[9]
Sexton was selected to play for Ireland A in the 2009 Churchill Cup. Ireland A went on to win the tournamnent beating England Saxons 49–22 in the final with Sexton scoring 15 points despite being sin-binned.
He won his first cap for Ireland in the Test against Fiji at the RDS in Dublin on 21 November 2009 scoring 16 points (5 conversions and 2 penalty goals), kicking 7 from 7 in extremely difficult weather conditions and winning Man of the Match with his impressive International debut.[10][11]
On 24 November 2009 Sexton was selected ahead of veteran fly-half Ronan O'Gara in Ireland's autumn international against world cup champions South Africa at Croke Park.[12] He kicked all of Ireland's 15 points and after the match, it was revealed that Sexton had played out Ireland's thrilling 15-10 victory with a broken hand.[13]
Sexton returned to the Ireland squad for the 2010 Six Nations, he came on as a substitute in Ireland's loss against France. He was selected to earn his first Six Nations start in the match against England in Twickenham on February 27, 2010.[14] Ireland won the game 20–16 at Twickenham with Sexton before being replaced by Ronan O'Gara late in the game. Sexton started against Wales and Scotland, being replaced by Ronan O'Gara in both games towards the end. Over the six nations, his kicking success rate was much lower than in his first few tests, missing several kicks however, it should be noted that Sexton was suffering from a quad injury at the time and was commended for his playmaking ability.
He was named in Ireland's squad for the 2010 Summer Tests, coming off the bench to replace O'Gara against New Zealand. He started against New Zealand Maori and kicked 23 points, and started against Australia, kicking all of Ireland's 15 points in the game.[15] Sexton was named RBS 6 Nations Man of the Match following his role in Ireland's successful attempt to stop England's hunt for a Grand Slam in the 2011 RBS 6 Nations.[16]
Honours
Leinster
- Leinster Schools Senior Cup (with St Mary's College, Dublin) 2002
- Celtic League: 2007–08
- Heineken Cup: 2008–09, 2010–11, 2011–12
- Amlin Cup: 2013
Ireland Wolfhounds
Charity work
Jonathan is an Ambassador with Make-A-Wish Ireland since September 2009. He helps grant wishes to children with life threatening medical conditions and launches various fundraising campaigns.[17]
Playing Style
Sexton has been a key figure to Irish and club rugby due to his fantastic defence and good passing in attack. He is also a big part in the kicking game. Sexton has scored over 100 points in the six nations and has only played in three Six nation Tournaments.
References
- ^ "Leinster 1st XV | The Team | Leinster Rugby | Official website : Leinster 1st Team Squad | Players | Profiles | 1st XV". Leinsterrugby.ie. Retrieved 2013-06-03.
- ^ "Sexton a Class Act". independent.ie. 2012-05-18. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
- ^ Paul Rees. "Jonny Wilkinson turned down Lions chance, says Warren Gatland". Guardian. Retrieved 2013-04-30.
- ^ "Kerry Sanctuary". independent.ie. 2011-01-31. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
- ^ "Leicester 16 Leinster 19". ercrugby.com. 2009-05-23. Retrieved 2009-11-17. [dead link]
- ^ "Listowel has a hero's welcome". kerryman.ie. 2011-05-25. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
- ^ "Leinster Retain Heineken Cup". rte.ie. 2012-05-20. Retrieved 2012-05-20.
- ^ "Sexton to leave Leinster for France - Rugby News | Rugby Results, Fixtures & Tables | The Irish Times - Fri, Jan 25, 2013". The Irish Times. Retrieved 2013-05-02.
- ^ "Sexton to miss Six Nations opener". RTÉ. 2008-01-21. Retrieved 2008-03-08.
- ^ "Sexton to make debut for Ireland". BBC Sport. 2009-11-17. Retrieved 2009-11-17.
- ^ RTE (2009-11-21). "Matchtracker". Retrieved 2009-11-21.
- ^ "Sexton a shock inclusion for Ireland". RTÉ Sport. 2009-11-22. Retrieved 2009-11-26.
- ^ "Injury Setback for Leinster as Sexton Suffers Broken Hand". independent.ie. 2009-11-30. Retrieved 2012-04-12.
- ^ "Ireland start for Murphy". Sky Sports. 2010-02-23. Retrieved 2010-02-23.
- ^ "England 16–20 Ireland". RTÉ Sport. 2010-02-27. Retrieved 2010-03-01.
- ^ "No grand slam for England". Sky Sports. 2011-03-20.
- ^ "Ambassadors". Retrieved 2011-03-29.