Alun Wyn Jones will become the third-oldest player ever to appear in the Six Nations on Saturday so it is remarkable to consider that the Welsh talisman is not even the oldest person on that pitch at the Principality Stadium.
That blue honor will be awarded to Johnny Sexton, the Irish midfielder who is two months older than the ageless green and who is on track to break the record as the most golden veterans in the Championship.
Sexton doing well, Leinster’s Mr Longevity will replace Simon Shaw’s 37 years and 199 days in the history books by playing in the second round of matches against France last week.
It is a situation that was not at all similar 20 months ago, when Warren Gatland announced that he would not be taking Sexton on the British and Irish Lions Tour to South Africa, citing concerns about the “survival” of the a 35-year-old at the time. , with the injuries piling up almost as fast as the years.
Many feared a surprise rejection could end a career but it is now clear Gatland’s snub has prompted the veteran to move the finish line further.
“It was sticking out,” Sexton said this week. “I saved my Lions Test jerseys and we had them framed and I said to Laura [his wife]’I’m not putting them on the wall until the South Africa tour was over because I wanted all three tours together,’ but that’s life.
“But did he inspire me? Oh, yes. It gave me a little time to line things up over and over again, ‘Do I want to go out like this or do I want to go out in two or three years at the top?’”
In the intervening 20 months, Sexton seems to have achieved the incredible and improved, earning a place on the four-man shortlist for World Player of the Year in 2022, an award he won in 2018. Gatland , the returning Kiwi will be in charge. for his first Test in Wales in more than three years, acknowledged the time-defying heroics on Tuesday.
“I think Johnny has been playing great rugby over the last year or so,” he said. “It was a big decision to leave him out of that Lions tour – a tough call – but I was probably wrong about the way he was playing and the way he was leading. He should be proud of what he has achieved in the game because he is very special and will be one of the great players in Irish rugby.”
Sexton isn’t about to thank Gatland for the encouragement but he’s not going to go all “Jilted Johnny” and turn this clash in Cardiff into a personal oddity. “There’s no animosity between me and Warren,” Sexton said. “People make their decisions and at the time they make them for what they believe to be the right reasons. So you can’t hold that against him. It’s over, it’s gone and you can’t get it back. I met him at the Six Nations launch [last month] and we shook hands. I’ve done really well with him on the previous two tours, and it probably hurt for so many reasons.”
Indeed, Gatland and Sexton are kindred spirits; bullish characters who won’t settle for second best. “Johnny is in high demand and has high expectations, that’s what drives him and he’s very vocal,” Gatland said. “I remember one occasion on the 2013 Lions Tour [to Australia] when Johnny started very crazy at the starters. Paul O’Connell turned away. He didn’t answer Johnny back but said, ‘I’m going to kill him one of these days!’ His commitment was not always there.”
Gatland is not just busy communing on the humble piece. Bernard Jackman, who played with Sexton at Leinster and was named in the same Ireland squad in 2008 as the Dubliner embarked on an international odyssey that has brought him 115 caps to date, admits he was “at the front, shouting placards for Faz. [Andy Farrell, the Ireland coach] to look elsewhere” for the autumn series in 2021.
“I was wrong and I was happy to eat my words after seeing what happened that November [as they beat New Zealand],” Jackman said. “I was excited that he went through another transition. You know he’s seen a lot of different cultures, he’s seen a lot of different game plans, he’s seen a lot of different players coming in from the Ireland squad. And again, it’s that regeneration that has helped drive him, to be on that train as he develops more and more.”
The World Cup in France in September and October should be the last stop, although Sexton is always infamous for blowing the whistle on retirement, no matter what he promises about retirement. He knows no quit, in every sense.
He was in doubt for the Wales game, having suffered a cheekbone injury on New Year’s Day which required an operation. Regardless, he put on a mask, headed to training before releasing it for Wednesday’s session where he proved to Farrell that he can take the starting role as captain. “Well, I’m not allowed to wear the mask on Saturday,” Sexton said.
He is delighted to be the Six Nations’ choice in charge, and there is little concern that he has not played for six weeks. “Johnny is a phenomenon,” said fellow Irish great Mike Gibson. “Normal rules don’t apply.”