“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.

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."