Jonathan Sexton

Jonathan Jeremiah Sexton (born 11 July 1985) is an Irish former professional rugby union player who played as a fly-half and captained the Ireland national team from 2019 until 2023.

He also played club rugby for Leinster and Racing 92.

He was the second Irish player in history to win the award, after inaugural winner Keith Wood, in 2001.

He attended St Mary's College, Dublin and scored a drop goal in the dying moments of the school's 2002 Leinster Senior Schools Cup final victory.

His performances at St. Mary's led to Sexton being selected for Leinster.

Sexton began his Leinster career playing one game in the 2005–06 season, as a result of his performances for St. Mary's. He came on as a substitute against the Border Reivers.

Sexton played three games in the 2006–07 season.

Although he only played 12 minutes against Ospreys, he scored a conversion.

He went on to kick three penalties in his other games, which were against Ulster and Munster.

In all, that season he scored 11 points in only 143 minutes of playtime.

In the 2007–08 season, Sexton started against Edinburgh and scored one try, one conversion and two penalties.

He scored his second try of the season against Cardiff Blues, in which game he scored a further two conversions and two penalties.

He followed that up by scoring a conversion and two penalties against the Scarlets.

He ended 2007 scoring a further 23 points against Ulster and Glasgow Warriors.

He then finished off the season with 14 points in his games against Munster Rugby and Newport Gwent Dragons.

Overall, he scored 73 points during the 2007–08 season.

At the start of the season, Sexton played seven matches against Cardiff, Edinburgh and Munster in September.

In October, he played against Connacht, Edinburgh, London Wasps and Glasgow.

He finished the season on a high, scoring 64 points after November.

Sexton was part of Leinster's Celtic League winning side for the 2007–08 season.

He got a call up to the Ireland team for the 2008 Six Nations, but was ruled out by injury.

On 2 May 2009, he established himself in the Leinster first team, replacing the injured Argentine fly-half Felipe Contepomi as an early substitute in the Heineken Cup semi-final to help Leinster beat rivals Munster 25–6.

He then started in Leinster's home match against the Scarlets in the Celtic League, scoring 15 points (including a try) in a man of the match performance.

Contepomi's cruciate ligament injury ruled him out for the rest of Leinster's campaign; he signed with French giants Stade Francais the following season.

Sexton started the 2009 Heineken Cup Final against Leicester Tigers, where he kicked an amazing drop goal from the halfway line and also kicked the winning penalty (a total of 11 points: two penalties, one drop goal and one conversion).

Leinster went on to win their first European Cup 16–19 at Murrayfield.

Sexton played league and Heineken cup matches against Scarlets, Dragons, Ospreys, Edinburgh, Munster, London Irish, Brive, Ulster and Cardiff before being called up to the Ireland team for a match against Fiji.

He scored 16 points with five conversions and two penalties in a 41–6 victory.

He then scored all of Ireland's points through five penalties, leading Ireland to a 15–10 win against South Africa.

Upon recovering from a hand injury sustained during the Ireland–South Africa autumn international fixture in 2009, Sexton helped Leinster to secure a bonus point win over Brive in the Heineken Cup to take command of their pool.

The following week in their pool decider, Sexton scored a drop goal in the dying minutes against London Irish at Twickenham to even up the score at eleven all.

This secured Leinster a home advantage in the Heineken Cup quarter finals and knocked the Exiles out of the competition.

He also represented the British & Irish Lions on their 2013 and 2017 tours, and has scored over 1,000 points in his international career, making him one of the highest points-scorers in rugby union history.

He has been described by players and coaches as the world's best fly-half and as Ireland's best ever player.

Sexton was the winner of World Rugby Player of the Year in 2018, having previously been a nominee for the award in 2014 and then again in 2022.

Sexton became the 106th player to captain Ireland when he led the team out at their 2019 World Cup 3rd Pool A group match at the Kobe Misaki Stadium in Japan on 3 October 2019.

He was officially named captain for the 2020 Six Nations Championship, a role he retained through the 2023 World Cup until Ireland's loss in the quarter finals to New Zealand.

He is the all-time record points scorer for Ireland.

Sexton was born in Rathgar, Dublin, but has family ties to North Kerry and West Clare; he is a nephew of former Garryowen, Munster and Ireland rugby player William Sexton.

In his formative years, Sexton played mini rugby with Bective Rangers in Donnybrook, Dublin, the club of his father who is a long-standing member.