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The Irish Sun

‘Maybe I was tricking myself' – Johnny Sexton makes honest admission about initially shunning coaching

JOHNNY SEXTON has admitted that he was probably kidding himself about whether he would go into coaching. In the build-up to his swansong at the Rugby World Cup, Sexton insisted he would not go straight into coaching, because he did not want to work with former teammates. Advertisement 2 Sexton has fully thrown himself into coaching over the past few months Credit: PA 2 The Lions' first outing will be on Friday at the Aviva Stadium against Argentina He also expressed doubt as to whether he would become a coach at all and But, within 12 months, he had been persuaded by Andy Farrell to come back into Ireland camp as a mentor on a casual basis which was continued for the Six Nations. In April, it was confirmed he would chuck in his office job to Speaking for the first time since that announcement, Sexton said: '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. Advertisement Read More On Irish Sport '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. "Last November, Andy asked me to come in and help out. He thought the kickers and young tens needed a little bit of help, so I did as much as I could with my work. "He then asked me to come in for the Six Nations, and it was maybe a little bit more, but not much. I loved it, I loved being back in an environment where I was comfortable. "I've spent a lot of time in rugby and felt I had a bit to give back to those number tens, and the leadership group, trying to help them out. Advertisement Most read in Rugby Union 'It was really enjoyable and then obviously got the phonecall from Faz to do both roles and it would obviously have to be full-time and I jumped at it. "It's something I kind of always wanted to get into deep down and the reason I didn't was I didn't really want to coach lads I'd played with so that break was good for me, albeit that it was only for a full year. Inside Leinster's boozy celebrations as stars dance on team bus while leaving Croke Park as URC champs 'And the other reason was because I'm not the guy who wants to go and travel, go to France, go to New Zealand, a bit like Ronan O'Gara has done. "I don't want to do that. I want to be in Ireland but I've got to concentrate on the here and now. Advertisement "That's ultimately how I made the decision, I've got to make myself happy here and now, and not worry about the future. If it's only for two years, it's only for two years. "We'll see what happens, just enjoy the moment and try to make the most of it." IRISH THERE ON MERIT Sexton dismissed that the Irish contingent - which now stands at 16 The former out-half said: 'Well Ireland have done pretty well over the last few years I think, having won the Championship last year, the Grand Slam the year before. Advertisement 'So you're probably looking at form over the last three years. With some players, I think the coaches probably look at form over seven, eight, nine years. It's not just if you played well in a couple of games in the Six Nations. 'You can force your way in but sometimes you take a bigger picture look with players and obviously they know the way Andy coaches, they know the system, so it didn't surprise me 'I can go through the players and think 'who are you talking about that you wouldn't have picked?' because for me, in the last three or four years, they've been consistently performing well. 'Sometimes you can be swayed by how the Six Nations finished when the first game, Ireland v England, that was a great performance and that still comes into consideration. Advertisement 'I have never seen as thorough a process in terms of all the combinations, the amount of players that were considered, the amount of players that were talked about. "Andy did all of those players justice in terms of putting enough research, work, asked relevant people and he's picked the squad that he thinks gives him the best chance to win the tour.'