Johnny Sexton will be a key figure at the heart of Wales v Ireland, with his on-field persona known to be one of the most intense in the sport.
The Irishman has once again been central to the build-up, revealing his hurt at Warren Gatland's decision to leave him out of the 2021 Lions squad.
Gatland, for what it's worth, has admitted he made a mistake in doing so, while anecdotes have also emerged of Welsh players initially finding the demanding Irish fly-half hard to work with.
Sexton was perhaps the highest-profile omission from Gatland's squad to tour South Africa, with Dan Biggar, Owen Farrell and Finn Russell ultimately being selected instead. However, Sexton has remained integral to Ireland's fortunes on their way to becoming the top-ranked men's side in the world.
It could be argued that Ireland are over-reliant on the 37-year-old half-back, who is set for his final Six Nations campaign before a likely retirement after this year's World Cup. Earlier this week, former Wales captain Sam Warburton wrote in his Times column that he didn't think "there is a team in world rugby who rely on one player as much as Ireland do on Sexton", although he stressed that wasn't a criticism.
And he recalled a tale from a Lions tour which demonstrated the will to win that has kept Sexton at the highest level more than a decade after first breaking onto the Test scene.
"What is he like, though? Well, on the 2013 British & Irish Lions tour to Australia, some of the Welsh players came to me and said that they were finding Johnny hard to work with," wrote Warburton. "After a while they realised that the on-field conversations stayed on the field and that was how Johnny operated, being so black and white in his opinions and observations. Off the field he was a really nice guy.
"He would often be taking aim at his own players, being direct and confrontational — which is not something I ever did as captain, and Wales were never like that as a group — but that is the beauty of the Lions: it’s a coming together of different cultures, personalities and behaviours. For some it took a while to warm to Johnny, but, when I look back now, I realise how important he was. He set such high standards, which helps you as a captain."
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Gatland had similar memories of Sexton's blunt nature in training, recalling that it wasn't just Welsh players who gritted their teeth, but also some of Sexton's compatriots.
The returning Wales coach, who also admitted that Sexton had proved him wrong since the 2021 Lions tour, said: "I can remember Johnny Sexton once having a crack at the forwards and Paul O’Connell just turned away, he didn’t answer Johnny back and said, 'I’m going to kill him one of these days!'
"He’s so demanding and has such high expectations, that’s what drives him and he’s vocal. I think he has been playing some great rugby in the last year or so.
"It was a big decision for him to be left out of the last Lions tour – that was a tough call - but he has probably proved to me in terms of the way he has been playing and the way he has been leading as a player for Ireland. He should be proud of that in terms of what he has achieved in the game because it is pretty special and he will go down as one of the great players of Irish rugby when he does decide to hang up his boots."
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