✨ Check out this insightful post from BBC Sport 📖
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💡 Main takeaway:
After the international break, Gibson-Park will be joined at Leinster by All Blacks player Rico Ioane, who will take a ‘sabbatical’ from the Blues to join the Irish province on a seven-month contract.
Gibson Park admitted news of Ioane’s move surprised players in the county when it was announced in April.
It also shocked fans, given that former Leinster player Johnny Sexton claimed Ioane sparked a rift between the pair by making comments after the final whistle of Ireland’s 2023 World Cup exit to the All Blacks – the final match of Sexton’s career.
“I trained with him with the Blues. I was 21, so I think he was still at school, and he was looked up to,” Gibson Park recalls.
“Since then, I haven’t had much to do with him, but I think we were just as shocked as a lot of people.
“You usually hear a whisper of something about to go down, but this hit us point blank.”
Gibson-Park is also delighted to continue working alongside former Ireland captain Sexton, who is part of Andy Farrell’s backroom squad having also assisted the Englishman during the British and Irish Lions tour in the summer.
He explained: “He is a great person in the camp. It is different, not strange, I think he has always been a big voice in the room and now it is different as a coach.”
“It’s different seeing him in this light, but he’s still Johnny and when he talks, everyone listens. We’re really lucky to have him.”
⚡ What do you think?
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