Although it remains uncertain at what point professional sport will resume, Leinster and Ireland captain Johnny Sexton explained how he is keeping fit and sharp on Thursday's OTB AM.

Where no certainty exists surrounding the date of rugby's return, Johnny Sexton is determined to ensure that he will be ready whenever it is necessary.

Within the confines of his own home, the 34-year-old out-half, aided by the impressively prepared Leinster backroom team, is doing his best to keep on top of his physical conditioning in some difficult circumstances.

"I'm not getting a lot done with three kids here," he admitted on Thursday's OTB AM, "they can pretty much keep you busy all day, but I'm trying to get a training session in once a day."

Utilising the space in his back garden and equipment acquired by him personally and Leinster, the routine is regularly testing, if not quite what he would have been expecting to do in early April.

"The strength & conditioning staff in Leinster have been incredible," he commented. "Before the lockdown came, they were already dropping bits of gym gear out to guys' houses and making sure we had enough weight to work with.

"I'd already bought an assault bike - which is an absolutely horrible piece of equipment - about two weeks before too just preparing for what was ahead.

"We were lucky too because one of the doctors in St Vincent's Hospital, John Ryan, and again this just highlights the importance of having the right people, he's in charge of A & E in the hospital and kind of knew what was coming before the really stringent regulations came in and he told us to be prepared.

"So, I have my garden now with weights, the assault bike and about 10 metres to work with if I've to do a few shuttle sprints."

Jonathan Sexton during Leinster rugby squad training at UCD in Dublin. Photo by Sportsfile

When sport eventually resumes, whether or not those competitions that have been postponed will be retrospectively completed remains to be seen.

In the event that they possibly could, Sexton is aware, however, that he may currently be in the middle of an unlikely off-season before rugby returns with a calendar that may take well over a continuous year to complete.

"This could be our holiday time before we go into a 16-month season," he suggested. "We'll be looking to finish our season through the summer and then roll straight into next season."

With the accessibility of an actual rugby pitch beyond him, the question of kicking practice has crossed Sexton's mind, also.

"You try to adapt," he began. "So, I got a kicking net which is essentially almost like a goal for my five-year-old to play soccer into but I'm able to nail that into the ground and kick balls into it.

"But there are no matches in sight at the moment and normally on my holidays I'd do one session every couple of days and not much kicking at all.

"I'm just doing a lot of this now almost to stay sane. Next week we'll go into out isolated pre-season and the real training will start then."

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You can watch Johnny Sexton's interview with Thursday's OTB AM here. 

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