I won it all with Ireland and was named player of the year – now I work for a packaging company on six-figure salary
AN IRISH legend has swapped rugby pitches for boardroom pitches in his lucrative new career.
Johnny Sexton won everything except the World Cup during his time as Ireland’s fly-half, racking up 118 caps and 1,108 points.
He has five Six Nations winner’s medals – including three Grand Slams – and featured in two British & Irish Lions tours.
Sexton, 39, was named World Rugby Player of the Year in 2018 then hung up his boots and retired last year after captaining his country at the World Cup, losing to New Zealand 28-24 in the quarter-finals.
But he has found his feet in a very different job already, having turned down a coaching gig with his national team.
That is because Sexton is raking it in earning a six-figure salary as the Chief of Staff for Ardagh Group, a Luxembourg-based company that describes itself as a global supplier of recyclable metal and glass packaging.
The company has 63 production facilities spread across the globe, 20,000 employees and a revenue exceeding £7.2billion.
The rugby ace started working at the business part-time in April 2021 during his playing days but is now all in for his new role.
Sexton – who has a Bachelor of Commerce degree from University College Dublin – told ex-footballers Alan Brazil and Gabriel Agbonlahor on talkSPORT: “I’ve got a full-time job.
“We’re rugby players. We’re not like you boys, get to put our feet up. We don’t earn the money you guys do.
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“It’s a packaging company. I’m on the commercial side of that.
“It’s been eye-opening. A lot of learning, a massive transition. But I’m enjoying it as well.
“I’m enjoying trying to do something new and try to make myself in that environment and really challenge myself. It’s challenging.”
Sexton also runs his own JAS Management and Promotions Ltd company, which recorded profits of more than £2.4million in 2022.
But despite keeping himself busy in his new roles, the Ireland hero is still adjusting to life away from the training ground and matchdays in stadiums.
Sexton added: “It’s very tough, isn’t it?
“It’s a massive transition. I’ve heard the phrase, ‘Sports people die twice’, once when their career finishes and then obviously when it comes to the end.
“It was a tough time. It was a very surreal time because you’ve feared this moment for such a long time, and then it was there.
“It was a bit like you’re on your own. Everyone’s off doing work or all of your ex-team-mates are going to training.
“You’re going, ‘What am I going to do with myself?’
“I had two-and-a-half months before I started a new job.
“But those two-and-a-half months were probably the toughest because you have no structure to your life, no routine, you don’t really know what to do with yourself.
“You can only play so much golf.”