Sexton ‘might have been tempted’ by Leinster stay

Former Ireland captain Johnny Sexton has admitted he “might have been tempted” to extend his career had there been a contract offer from Leinster after the World Cup.

The 2018 World Player of the Year hung up his boots last year after a quarter-final exit to New Zealand in Paris, starting at fly-half and playing the full 80 minutes against the All Blacks in his final game.

Sexton was 38 at the time of his retirement but still skipper and the key creative player for a side who headed to the tournament atop the world rankings.

“I made the decision long before the World Cup that this was going to be my last,” the 118-cap international told BBC Sport NI.

“Finishing the World Cup the way it did, you’re always tempted to try and go on.

“I might have been tempted had Leinster said to me to maybe stay on for the end of the season, but they didn’t.

“I didn’t really, I suppose, have the option. I had a couple of offers to go abroad and play but that didn’t appeal to me, really.”

Numerous Sexton peers were forced out of the game through injury, and previous occupants of the Irish number 10 jersey had their international exits hastened by a changing of the guard in the position. Neither scenario applied to two-time British and Irish Lions tourist Sexton.

“It was the decision I made and I just stuck with it,” added Sexton, whose autobiography Obsessed is published this week.

“It was tough because I was fully fit and the World Cup, from a personal point of view, I played okay, and you can spend your time thinking about that, but I just have to look back and be grateful for the years that I got.

“I’m very lucky to get to the age that I got to. I try to view it like that.”

While Sexton was denied a farewell appearance in Leinster blue through injury sustained in the final game of Ireland’s 2023 Six Nations Grand Slam triumph, and his fourth World Cup ended in a fourth quarter-final exit, he believes that addressing the experiences for his autobiography helped him to deal with the disappointments of his final months as a professional player.

“I would say it was tough, having those tough conversations so soon after,” Sexton said.

“In many ways, it probably helped. Getting to talk about and chat about it makes you feel a bit better.

“When you put it like that, it wasn’t a great last year of my career, but it gave me two of the great periods of my career in terms of winning the Grand Slam and also getting to experience the World Cup. The five or six weeks that we spent there was incredibly special.”