During the Guinness PRO12 semi-final weekend, two Irish outhalves were superb for their provinces. This summer, one is off to South Africa while the other will hunt for a house on the outskirts of Manchester.
One could make a pile of money from editing together Johnny Sexton’s performance against Ulster and selling it as a DVD. The Leinster outhalf delivered a masterclass in all the key aspects of being a modern-day No.10.
Ulster knew what every team that plays a Sexton-led side knows – stop 10 and you have a chance of winning. Jamie Heaslip, Jordi Murphy and Jack McGrath gave them too much to worry about on the deck and Sexton, given that extra split of a second, made hay.
He was at the centre of everything – a conduit for the slick passing moves and feints that many felt Leinster had lost in cold storage. The chips over the top and into the corner are being played off either foot and are a welcome addition to his game.
Joe Schmidt, much like the entire nation of Ireland, will hope for more of the same this Saturday – in the Guinness PRO12 final against Connacht – while praying Sexton avoids injury. He is absolutely vital to Ireland’s prospects in South Africa this summer.
One player that could have been joining Sexton on the high-veldt is AJ MacGinty. The Dubliner, however, will never get to represent Ireland at Test level due to rugby’s equivalent of Catch 22.
The 26-year-old must have thought his chances of ever playing for Ireland were gone when he failed to attract interest from the Leinster academy. He headed to the United States and played so well in college and club rugby that he made their national team for the World Cup.
His World Cup performances landed him a contract with Connacht. His form is now so good that he could easily have been selected by Ireland. Connacht coach Pat Lam says:
“During the World Cup, I took an interest in Samoa and AJ played really well against them. The thing I liked about him was his physicality and tackling. I know how tough the Samoan guys can be so I thought, ‘Ah, okay. This is good. This is good’.”
“We did a bit of homework, got in touch and realised that he had nothing afterwards so we brought him up here, had a meeting and talked about what we were going to do.”
Nothing planned. That is how close MacGinty came to returning to the USA and, in rugby terms, relative obscurity. Lam continues:
“He’s loving it. It’s the first time in his life he’s a professional rugby player.
“We brought him in as an unknown. He hadn’t played at this level, or week-in, week-out. He obviously didn’t make it in Dublin and went over to America, through university and came through that avenue.”
MacGinty was drafted in as back-up for Jack Carty and Craig Ronaldson, and showed glimpses of his talent in wins over Munster and Dragons. Carty and Ronaldson then pulled up with injuries and MacGinty grasped his chance.
In the home wins over Leinster and Glasgow [twice], the outhalf excelled. He glides serenely around the pitch and his timing of pass is perfect for the likes of Bundee Aki and Matt Healy to break lines. As Lam alluded to, too, he can also heave all 88 kilos of himself into men far bigger and bulkier than himself.
It says a lot for MacGinty that Lam, once he discovered he could not retain his services in 2016/17, hit the phones to find him a new club. Lam says:
“Steve Diamond [Sale Sharks director of rugby] said, ‘Would you back him?’
“I said, ‘I’ll tell you this. I already told him he could sign somewhere else for two years and I’d come back and get him. Wherever I am, I’ll come back and get him’.
“That was on the Wednesday. Steve flew him over [to England] on the Saturday and signed him up. I’m pleased for him. I know what some might say but if he hadn’t went down the American route, he could have been lost to the system.”
The closest Sexton ever came to being lost to the system was missing out on Ireland Schools and U19 selection. He was behind Gareth Steenson on his first trip to the Junior World Championship and seemed set for a long, frustrating stint as Felipe Contepomi’s understudy until the Argentine wrenched his knee on the Croke Park turf, in 2009.
“It kind of pisses me off when people say that [Heineken Cup semi-final win over Munster] was my breakthrough,” Sexton once said.
Aged 23 at the time, Sexton had played 13 times [seven starts] for Leinster that season before he stepped up and landed the kicks that shuttled the province to their first ever Heineken Cup triumph.
“That annoyed me a bit,” he continued. “The people who thought that hadn’t watched a lot of Leinster before.”
Confidence is oxygen for outhalves and Sexton runs high and handsome off it. Being the best, he has always told himself, is his destiny.
On Saturday, in Murrayfield, MacGinty’s long-diverged, scenic path meets that of Sexton.
In front of both men lies destiny in its many forms – yearned, ethereal, expected. Scarcely imagined.
Tickets for the Guinness PRO12 Final at BT Murrayfield, Edinburgh on Saturday 28 May 2016 at 5.30pm can still be purchased, visit www.pro12rugby.com for details or click here for details.
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