Farrell’s father Andy took over as Ireland head coach from Schmidt in 2020. Sexton admits he was initially disappointed by the change.
“Joe was the biggest influence on my career until then and I thought no-one would get close to him,” Sexton said.
“Then Andy kind of came in and kind of changed that in many ways. He does it all – he coaches attack and defence brilliantly, like the best of the best.”
It was not just the technical side that impressed Sexton. Farrell tapped into his Irish heritage, along with his own experiences from playing for England, to motivate his team.
Sexton said: “Before we played Scotland at the 2019 World Cup, Joe got Andy to present us our jerseys and Andy told the story about what it was like being an Englishman playing at Croke Park in 2007.
That was when England played at the home of the Gaelic Athletic Association for the first time.
“He talked about how, for their anthem, it was dead silence and then what happened when the Irish anthem played,” Sexton added.
“He remembers looking across and thinking ‘how are we gonna win this game today?’ and he said he hadn’t really had that thought before in his career- but that is the unique power of the Irish jersey.”