Scrummy bestseller in the making: Johnny Sexton autobiography to be published after he leads Ireland into World Cup and then hangs up boots

Sexton, capped 113 times, has signed a six-figure deal for his autobiography with Penguin Sandycove.

The former World Player of the Year, who led Ireland to a Grand Slam last week, will turn 38 in July — but he’s still regarded as Ireland’s most influential and irreplaceable player.

However, with the Rugby World Cup not concluding until October 28 — and with world number-one ranked Ireland in with a strong chance of making the final weekend of the tournament — Sexton’s book is not expected to be published until after his retirement, in September or October of 2024.

The book is being co-written with rugby journalist Peter O’Reilly, who collaborated with Sexton on an earlier book, Becoming a Lion, in 2013.

The story of Irish rugby’s most important player of the last decade is certain to top the bestseller lists. But should he lead Ireland to a World Cup triumph, sales would get a huge lift.

The publishers are hopeful that sales of Sexton’s story will rival those of the two biggest-selling Irish sports books of the last decade — the autobiographies of his former Ireland team-mates Brian O’Driscoll (in 2014) and Paul O’Connell (in 2016).

Both were published by Penguin, which also released the best-selling memoir of former Ireland coach, Joe Schmidt, in 2019.

Until recently, O’Connell’s book, The Battle, held the record for the most books sold in a single week since records began 20 years ago, with 17,800 copies. That was topped earlier this year by Prince Harry’s Spare which sold 20,584.