‘He’s been great for us’: Johnny Sexton hails impact of sports psychologist Gary Keegan

Three wins from three, with the grand prize still in the offing.

Johnny Sexton has been in this position before, notably when Wales derailed Ireland’s grand designs in the penultimate round in 2015, before recompense came by way of retaining the title in Murrayfield a week later, and again when Ireland beat Scotland at home a week before sealing the Slam in 2018 at Twickenham.

Heading into Sunday’s meeting with a high-flying and equally motivated Scottish team which Sexton says is the best he has encountered, his message to himself and his team, is not to shy away from the prize. This is where they want to be.

“It’s about embracing it. It’s about realising that it’s not always like this. Going back a couple of years, we’d lost our first two games and we were fighting for a bit of respect, a bit of pride, whatever.

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“So, it’s not always like this. You’ve got to cherish it. Where else would you rather be? Would you rather be fourth and playing for nothing?

“It’s where we want to be. You can’t get away from that so it’s just about driving home process, driving home performance, driving home the things that matter.

“We’ve got to go and play well. That’s the most important thing. The weather could be like it is today, cold and wet. That is something that we haven’t faced yet, and we need to be able to show that we can win in those conditions as well.”

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On retiring after the World Cup, Sexton confirmed that he will be taking a break from the game and going into business. So, this is his 14th and last shot at this thing, but he countered: “Pressure is pressure. It’s been there for the last ten/15 years in various forms. This is a good pressure.

“You’ve one shot, you want to do well. But at the same time, it’s not about me, it’s about the team and building and trying to do something that we set out to do. That’s ultimately what it’s about.”

Pressure, he added, comes in different forms, and worse ones than this week.

“If you’re playing badly, you’ve got pressure in that regard. You’re coming back from injury, you’re fighting for your place, there are loads of different forms of pressure.

“But this is about achieving. This is the pressure that you want, and we’ve had it loads of times. I think the good thing about this group is we’ve had big games before we haven’t won, [and] we’ve had big games over the last few years where we have won.

“I suppose we know what it takes, and it’s about whether we can go out and deliver on that.”

Andy Farrell has stated that the biggest area for growth in this Irish team is more mental than physical or technical. To that end, co-opting the sports psychologist Gary Keegan on to the backroom team has been “huge” for the squad according to the Irish captain.

Sexton had been originally alerted to Keegan when Leinster were at a low ebb in the post-Matt O’Connor era by Isa Nacewa telling him: ‘This guy is a bit different.’

Sexton did a few one-on-one sessions with Keegan before he had a stint with Leinster and was then brought aboard by Farrell.

“He’s been great for a lot of individuals. From a team perspective as well, he’s been great. His record speaks for itself. To be involved with the boxing team for so long, which had so much success, with the Gaelic football team in Dublin, who had so much success, he tends to have it [success] wherever he goes, so hopefully he can bring a little bit of it to us as well.”

What sets Keegan apart is his knowledge in his field of expertise, as it were.

“That’s what you want. You want people that are excellent. Like with any coach, if it’s a forwards coach, you want him to be excellent at being a forwards coach. With him, it’s around preparation, around mental skills.

Often the talks you have with him, [are about] the things actually come to life at the weekend. So, it’s been great for us.

“I don’t think we would be where we are. Again it was great by Andy [Farrell] to sort of acknowledge that as something that we needed to work on from the previous World Cups – to make sure we are at the top of our game.

“I think the other thing is, sports people read a lot. I read a lot. I read Sam Warburton talking about their guy and how influential he was, almost the most important person in that environment.

“The same with the New Zealand team when they won the World Cup. So, it’s important to have someone like that. We are lucky we’ve got him.”

That Sexton has focused on this area later in his career is for a simple reason.

“You can’t focus on it if you don’t know about it. Knowledge is the key and one thing I would say is that the people who influence your career are the ones who have to take huge credit.

“I’ve been so lucky to work with the best coaches that have probably been involved with the game. Blessed to have done so. Along the way, you pick up different things from them and he’s [Keegan] been no different.”