Another week, another discussion about Johnny Sexton’s head injuries.
England coach Eddie Jones was probably within in his rights to raise, unprompted, the number of head injuries Ireland’s talismanic out-half has suffered in recent years.
He may well have overstepped the mark, however, when he brought Sexton’s parents into the equation and the headlines that followed on both sides of the Irish Sea seemed to think that the brash Aussie was out of order.
Sexton himself has largely stayed quiet on the matter, but it would be naive to think that he is oblivious to the near constant swirl of rumour and hearsay that speculates that his injuries or more serious than anyone is letting on, or that Leinster and the IRFU are involved in some sort of cover up which puts the player’s long-term health at risk all for a few extra minutes on the pitch.
In a revealing and detailed interview with Gerry Thornley in Saturday’s Irish Times Sexton pulls no punches as he addresses the rumours.
“If they’re talking about my game or they’re criticising me, I don’t get involved with that,” he says.
“But it’s different when people come out and say that at the World Cup I was hiding concussion; that I had an injury at Leinster and I was hiding concussion; that I hurt my neck against Wales and I’m hiding concussion; and then that I was concussed again against France.”
“Could you imagine that if every press conference I did I mentioned someone in the media and it’s terrible that he’s got a serious illness, like Alzheimer’s or dementia, and persistently, persistently said it? I’d be in the High Court.
“I can’t do that, but for some reason people are allowed to say that I’m concussed when I’m not. And it’s not even because of me. It’s people close to you, they’re the ones that really care and then they’re worrying, ‘Maybe he actually is hiding something?’ But to suggest that the IRFU and doctors would be willing to do that is just crazy.”
Sexton goes on to say that he has suffered no concussive effects since taking a 12-week break while playing for Racing Metro, a decision which he says was “the best thing I ever did”.
Despite his protestations that he is head injury free it will be no surprise to see the English target him at Twickenham this evening.
