SEXTON READY TO ROAR
Lions put faith in out-half to steal a march on Test rivals
WARREN GATLAND is backing Johnny Sexton to blow off the cobwebs tomorrow in Whangarei and lay down a marker to his Lions Test shirt rivals, Owen Farrell and Dan Biggar.
Injury-prone Sexton was told last week in Dublin he would be starting the tour opener against the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians due to his lack of recent game time with Leinster, the out-half only making two appearances since the European win over Wasps nine weeks ago.
And Gatland is expecting him to flourish even though Farrell and Biggar will receive better first week opportunities to shine as they are set to start the following matches against the Super Rugby Blues and the Crusaders.
‘Johnny has been great. He knows he’s under (pressure), knows he
From Back Page needs to get some games under his belt,’ said Gatland. ‘He knows that the competition is pretty fierce in that position, but he’s a competitor and that’s what has made him one of the best 10s in world rugby. I’ve got no doubt he’d want a good performance from himself on Saturday. ‘We’re starting Johnny because he hasn’t played a lot of rugby. The three 10s came in together but we felt Johnny needed to start this first game, get some rugby under his belt and get off to a good start because he hasn’t played a huge amount. ‘His first concern was who’s going to do the goal-kicking because Greig (Laidlaw at scrum-half) is obviously a quality goal kicker as well. ‘But Neil Jenkins told him he is (kicking). He is confident and happy enough with that decision,’ explained Gatland. Meanwhile, Jared Payne has cried off the Lions bench for tomorrow’s tour opener in Whangarei. The inclusion of the Nelson-born New Zealander in the Lions squad sparked controversy in his homeland in April but a first opportunity to show why the Lions picked the Irelandqualified international has been dashed after he suffered a calf strain. Payne had trained with the Lions during their first session in New Zealand on Thursday but the squad woke to the news that he suffered the injury and the No23 shirt will now be worn by Elliott Daly of Wasps, who featured in last Saturday’s Premiership final defeat to Exeter.