“I split him open” – Johnny Sexton recalls fight with Irish teammate in new book
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Frustrated.
Former Ireland captain Johnny Sexton is set to release his autobiography Obsessed soon, with extracts beginning to do the rounds, and it sounds like it’s going to be a must-read.
Yesterday, we told you about Sexton recalling that infamous altercation with Rieko Ioane and Sexton at the Rugby World Cup last year, and now an excerpt much closer to home is doing the rounds,
Serialised by The Sunday Times, Sexton recalls a fight he got into with current Leinster head coach Leo Cullen, who was Sexton’s teammate at the time. Sexton was frustrated after being dropped for Ronan O’Gara and took his anger out on Cullen.
“He [Cullen] grabbed me at a ruck and I slapped his arm away aggressively,” Sexton writes.
“It happened again and I swung again. He slapped me in the face and that’s when the red mist descended. I grabbed him by the collar and started swinging like mad. People tried to drag me back but I lost the rag altogether. I split him open, just above the eye.
“I’m sure I took him by surprise. We were very close, after all. He was my club captain and I had massive respect for him. I’m sure it took everyone by surprise. Not my finest hour.”
Thankfully Cullen later accepted his apology with Sexton adding that no one was ‘laughing’ following the rather serious incident between the two teammates.