‘He's still flashy' jokes Johnny Sexton as Ireland legend reveals Finn Russell has shown different side with Lions
Former fly-half
2
Johnny Sexton is part of the Lions coaching team
Credit: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
2
It has seen him link up with former rival Finn Russell, right
Credit: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile
The bromance is growing as his old enemy gets his first Lions Test start at Suncorp Stadium where the Dubliner did the same 12 years ago.
Sexton, 40, had his nose put out of joint in 2021 when Russell got picked ahead of him for the series against South
Africa
. He later described the Scot as 'flashy'. But the
Sexton said: 'He's still flash, yeah! He'd hate it if I said 'no'. But in the last couple of years he's really matured as a player.
'You can see it with Bath — getting to finals, winning trophies, you can't do that if you're just a mercurial No 10.
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'He's got his team over the line and he's carried that form into here. We always knew, particularly when you're surrounding him with the players he's got around him, he's going to bring the best out of them and they'll bring the best out of him.
'He's come into his own as a ten and he's been able to manage a team — because, ultimately, his main job tomorrow is to manage all the guys around him.
'And then his brilliance will come out, once he's into the game.'
Russell plays like he is having a kickabout but Sexton has seen another side to the maverick with his off-pitch prep on the laptop and around the squad ahead of the Brisbane Test.
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Sexton said: 'You have a perception of him, and I would have had the same, of a relaxed guy who takes things in his stride — but he does a lot of
work
behind the scenes.
'He's been really good this week in prepping the team, because as a ten, you need the guys around you prepared.
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'You need to know what you are doing together and he has done a great job.
'I am sure Joe (Schmidt) will have a plan, because he'll know how integral he is to our team and will do everything he can to put him off. He's been probably our best defender in the backline on this tour so far.
'You always knew that was in there, he's a feisty guy.
'Physically he doesn't look that big but he's fronted up with a lot of impact tackles.
'We'll need him in that regard because they'll be coming down his channel.'
Sexton and the Lions won 23-21 here in 2013, when Kurtley Beale slipped taking a late Wallabies penalty to win it.
And Sexton added: 'It's going to come down to something small like that. Hopefully we'll be on the right side of it.'
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