Warren Gatland: Ireland fly-half Johnny Sexton ‘proved me wrong’ after Lions snub

Warren Gatland has admitted that he may have made the wrong call in omitting fly-half Johnny Sexton for the British and Irish Lions tour to South Africa.

Current Wales head coach Gatland took charge of his third Lions tour in 2021 as they faced the Springboks in a three-Test series.

Dan Biggar, Finn Russell and Owen Farrell were his preferred options at fly-half, with Sexton controversially left out.

When there were doubts of Russell’s fitness, Gatland decided to bring in the inexperienced England fly-half Marcus Smith as cover.

The Lions went on to succumb to the Boks 2-1 and the New Zealander conceded that Sexton’s performances since that tour have made him doubt his initial decision.

One of Ireland’s greats

“It was a big decision for him to be left out of the last Lions tour. That was a tough call,” Gatland said ahead of Wales’ Six Nations clash with Ireland.

“He has probably proved me wrong in terms of the way he has been playing and the way he has been leading as a player for Ireland. He should be proud of that in terms of what he has achieved in the game because it is pretty special.

“He will go down as one of the great players of Irish rugby when he does decide to hang up his boots. I think he has been playing some great rugby in the last year or so.”

Gatland believes that Sexton’s drive and determination are what sets him apart and has helped him to become one of the world’s best players.

“He’s so demanding and has such high expectations. That’s what drives him and he’s vocal,” Wales’ boss added.

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“I can remember Johnny once having a crack at the forwards (in 2013) and Paul O’Connell just turned away — he didn’t answer him back — and said, ‘I’m going to kill him one of these days!’”

Sexton’s Ireland are heavy favourites for this weekend’s Six Nations clash but Gatland will seek to take Wales out of the doldrums and cause a shock in Cardiff.

The 59-year-old has taken over following a dreadful 2022, which saw the Welsh lose home Tests to Italy and Georgia, and led to the sacking of Wayne Pivac.

With Gatland returning as head coach – having led them to four Six Nations titles and three Grand Slams in his previous time in charge – hopes have been raised of a revival ahead of the Rugby World Cup.

However, the Wales boss sees this encounter as a “free hit” and insists that all the tension will be in the opposition camp.

The favourites tag

“I suppose it is a free hit for us in that the expectation and pressure is on them as favourites to win. It hasn’t always been the easiest tag to carry for Irish and Welsh teams in the past,” he said.

“You can get an upset, because there is a huge amount of history and rivalry between those two nations and there’s been a lot of close games.

“The secret, and I’m sure Andy Farrell will be talking about this, is that you don’t run away from that, you look to embrace the expectations of being the number-one team in the world.

“That’s definitely the attitude I’d be taking in if I was in the Ireland camp. I’ve had that experience in the past with Wales.

“For us, it is very much focusing on ourselves for this weekend and putting things in place that we’ve been working on in the last couple of weeks. You get such a short amount of preparation in the Six Nations and obviously with new coaches and a new squad that is challenging.

“But I’ve been really pleased the way the players have applied themselves both on and off the field in terms of preparation.”