Johnny Sexton on Jim Gavin, Robbie Keane, two worlds away from rugby
The UK's angry brigade - rugby branch - are already up in arms about the amount of Irish coaches and players going to the Lions trip to Australia.
A tour that has a sweet sixteen-load of Ireland players, Andy Farrell as Head coach, Simon Easterby, John Forgarty, Andrew Goodman and Johnny Sexton as Assistant Coaches.Well, have we got news for them; Sexton is thinking about bringing a bit of Jim Gavin and Robbie Keane with him too!As it is Sexton, following retiring from playing rugby for Leinster and Ireland since around the time man invented fire and following having taken a sabbatical to work in the business world, is back in a tracksuit.Stemming from Andy Farrell offering him the role of Out-Half Minder/Kicking Advisor for the nine-game Lions tour that opens with a game against Argentina this Friday at the Aviva.Turns out Sexton hasn't really been away, he was just taking a break and is back with friends now Monica and Chandler and Joey...sorry, Andy, Simon, Tadgh, Jamison, Jack, JR, James, Garry and so on.His time away ought to have been interesting as well, getting to see former Dubs coach Jim Gavin's business view and talking to Robbie Keane about his experiences.Now there is the roadshow all the podcasts have missed out on, Gavin-Sexton-Keane while, apparently, there is no truth in the rumour Sky Sports are going to divert Roy,,,.Says Sexton of sampling the cut-throat world of the business boardroom, of carrying the knife in your briefcase and not in your lionskin shirt:'It was a great experience for me, it kinda solidified what I thought about high performance really, whether you are in business or in sport."That what you do every day is every (itals) thing (itals), the standards that you set, all these things that Joe (Schmidt) taught us when he came to Leinster, what was it, all those 15 years ago."That was solidified further over the last year and a half, and so from that regard, sometimes if you take a step back from the environment and you are not in it, sometimes you can actually see a lot of wider things."And then when you get back in you can say I matched up or that I was wrong there and it gives you a different perception of it. I learned a lot, I threw myself into it."The time away from the training ground has added to his perception of Jim Gavin's thinking, the most successful modern-day GAA coach/manager."I have met him, yes, a very impressive guy. We have had him in over the years with the Ireland team, I don't think we had him in with the Leinster team and you could see why he was so successful. He is very similar to Joe actually and we took a lot from his visits.'Overall, it was a great experience for me. I learned a lot, I threw myself into it, I was in it for the long haul in my own mind. Maybe I was tricking myself, I'm not sure."But, having made the decision now, I'm kind of like, I feel I'm where I should be in terms of in sport, in rugby, and loving being part of it and trying to challenge myself in here now."Robbie Keane is from a different world, a different sport to Gavin and Sexton, and he left a positive impression.'I did get a chance to talk to him, yeah. He's a good character, Robbie. Talking about his different experiences, in Israel and Hungary.
"He's thriving, isn't he? He's loving it. Picking his brain on certain things he's doing there but most of the time I spent laughing at him. He's just a great character, great story-teller. A lot of fun, yeah."
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