By james art The 39-year-old, who retired after last year’s Rugby World Cup, spent time with Andy Farrell’s squad at their training base in Dublin ahead of this month’s Autumn Nations Series.
As Ireland prepare to host New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia at the Aviva Stadium, Sexton is expected to make regular visits to further impart his expertise.
Defense coach Simon Easterby said: “He’s definitely going to be involved over the next few weeks, going in and out, giving his support to certain people in the squad.
“He’s excited about potentially what he can offer, and so are we as coaches and as players. It’s great to have.
“He’s a great guy, he’s a great personality in the band. I guess it remains to be seen how much time he will be involved in the next four weeks, but certainly the moment we see him involved.
“He’s already in and will potentially be in and out of camp for the next four weeks.
“The players loved him, there’s real positivity about him being involved again.”
Ireland are currently in Portugal finalizing the schedule for November, which begins against the All Blacks next Friday.
On their return, ex-midfielder Sexton, who has worked in a management position at a glass and metal packaging company since calling it quits as a player, will be on hand to offer advice to the squad, including No.10 Jack Crawley, Ciaran Frawley and Sam Prendergast.
“Johnny, having only recently retired, still has his finger on the pulse in terms of playing in that 10 role,” Easterby said.
“Jack Crawley has obviously had time with us, Ciaran as well, Sam less so.
“All these guys are like mushrooms, they want to learn, they want to understand and they want to get the know-how and then go out there and try to put those things into practice.
“Johnny will just be able to give them a little guidance sometimes. When you rely on someone like him with so much experience, it’s just a few words here and there sometimes, a little advice and a little feedback, that can be all.
“But that’s something that teams can do more of: rely on guys who aren’t long out of the game, but also have a lot of respect and could be a huge influence on the new guys that come up.”