Johnny Sexton has no interest in copying the Ronan O’Gara coaching route

He would do this differently to O'Gara.

Ahead of the tour, Lions head coach, Andy Farrell, added former Ireland out-half, Johnny Sexton, to his coaching staff. This is not the first time Sexton has been a part of Farrell's coaching set-up, as he returned to the Irish camp on a part-time basis last November and for the Six Nations campaign.

The IRFU announced that the ex-Test captain would be a full-time coach for the national team next season. With the Lions training at UCD ahead of the Argentina clash, Sexton spoke on quitting his job in business after a year to return to rugby and now making the move permanent.

He said: "It was really enjoyable and then obviously got the phonecall from Faz [Farrell] 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."

He added: "It [working outside rugby] 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. Maybe I was tricking myself, I’m not sure."

Sexton also revealed that he jumped at the chance to join up with Ireland as he did not want to replicate the route taken by his former teammate and now La Rochelle head coach, Ronan O'Gara.

He added: "The other reason was because I’m not a 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. 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."

After hanging up his boots in 2013, O'Gara took up a role as defence coach of Racing 92 in France. The ex-Munster man would move to New Zealand in 2017 as an assistant at the Crusaders. He moved back to France two years later with La Rochelle where he has won two Champions Cups.