Sexton joins Lions backroom team before starting new Ireland role

Johnny Sexton, a former Ireland international, will coach for Andy Farrell’s British and Irish Lions during their summer tour of Australia.

Sexton retired from the Rugby World Cup in 2023 and participated in two Lions tours in 2013 and 2017.

The Irish Rugby Football Union will start the new year with a full-time position starting on August 1, after the five-time Six Nations champion worked with Ireland in a casual coaching capacity since last November’s Autumn Nations Series.

He will work with a variety of men’s and women’s age-grade teams while also coaching the senior men’s team.

Sexton expressed his excitement at the prospect of continuing my coaching career with the British and Irish Lions.

“I’m looking forward to an exciting tour to Australia, and I already know what challenges lie ahead.”

My greatest wish for my entire professional career was to play for the Lions, and I will always have fond memories of those Tours.

Before traveling to Australia, the British and Irish Lions will face Argentina in a send-off game in Dublin on June 20.

Sexton, 39, was omitted from 2021 after starting in the Lions’ 2013 series win over Australia and two more in the drawn series with New Zealand in 2017.

The 2018 world player of the year won 118 caps for Ireland and led the team to a series victory over the All Blacks in 2022 and the Six Nations Grand Slam in 2023.

The love Johnny had for the British and Irish Lions was reflected in how he operated on a daily basis during his first coaching session with the Irish Lions in 2013, according to Farrell, who also coached Sexton for Ireland.

His impact on that Lions team and that Series victory, our only victory in the previous 24 years, cannot be understated.

Richard Wigglesworth, Simon Easterby, John Dalziel, Andrew Goodman, and John Fogarty were all added to Farrell’s coaching roster last month.

Sexton was referred to as a “significant coup” by Farrell.

Working with him during the most recent Autumn Nations Series made it abundantly clear that he has the talent and skillset to join our Irish coaching staff, and I know how eager to add him to the Lions, first this summer, and then later this year, on a full-time basis with Ireland, Farrell said.

David Humphreys, the director of IRFU performance, expressed his satisfaction with the long-term partnership with Sexton.

He will have an important role to play in educating both male and female players from the age-grade system through to the Irish national teams, Humphreys said.

“I want to formally welcome Johnny to the Irish Lions and the British andamp; Irish Lions,” he continued.