“I see it now in my own young fella” – Johnny Sexton worried about son Luca inheriting his ‘intense’ personality

The retired Ireland and Leinster star has released an autobiography.

Johnny Sexton has revealed his worries about passing his 'intense' traits and characteristics on to his 10-year-old son Luca.

The former Ireland captain has been on a busy media tour in recent weeks ahead of the release of his new book Obsessed: The Autobiography.

In an interview with Brendan O'Connor, broadcast this morning on RTÉ Radio 1, the 39-year-old opened on the anxiety he experienced as a child and his struggles to overcome it on the rugby pitch and in his personal life.

"The intensity, I don’t think it was intense like how it was during my rugby playing days, but worrying a lot of things – overthinking would probably be a bit more [accurate]," he said.

"I see it now in my own young fella now. He is very similar. He tries to make sense of everything and he digs deep on a lot of things as well."

Asked whether he was a fan of this particular behaviour, Sexton replied: "No! I try and get it out of him and try and put his made at ease.

"Again, is it nature or nature? That’s the million dollar question. Is it in you? I would’ve brought him up very different to how I was brought up but it’s still there. So you’d argue, maybe, that it’s just in him."

He continued: "It’s about teaching him – I talk about in the book – I was taught how to deal with these things [through] sport psychologists, you meet other players, you meet various people along the way that influence you massively and they would’ve steered me in the right direction."