Departing Leinster out-half Jonny Sexton has admitted that he would have preferred to have stayed with his Province but the IRFU wouldn’t budge in their contract negotiations.
By Declan Whooley
While the out-half insists that there are no hard feelings on his part, he wanted parity with the top earners and that was something the association were unwilling to do.
Speaking in today’s Irish Independent, the 27-year-old has said that he did have fears that he had to give it careful consideration but that ultimately he had to get the best deal possible while he is at the top of his game.
“Maybe I rated myself too highly, I don’t know,” he said.
“I obviously wanted to be on a par with the best players here and that wasn’t happening. That’s their (the IRFU’s) prerogative. I mean I sourced a couple of people and asked: ‘Listen, am I getting ahead of myself here? Am I in that bracket of player? Or am I in the second tier with the other guys?”
If the IRFU had put Sexton on par with the highest earners then he would still have fallen roughly €150,000 below the deal he is believed to have negotiated with Racing Metro for next season, but that would have been enough for him to stay. Though he is acutely aware of the financial constraints the IRFU are under.
“Obviously the union are under restrictions and certain financial strains and all that. They’ve got to look after themselves.”
“Listen, I’m big enough to realise that they made a decision based on . . . they didn’t want to put me in that bracket and that’s fair enough. There’s literally no hard feelings.”
He also added in the honest interview that Irish rugby could reap the benefits of three Irish-based outhalves playing Heineken Cup next year, plus himself abroad.
The benefit to Ireland however could be of little consolation to Leinster. Ian Madigan has been in tremendous form all season, but the loss of one of the top number 10s currently in the game will be keenly felt by the Amlin and Rabo Direct finalists.
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