WARREN GATLAND HOPES that his decision to leave Johnny Sexton out of the 2021 British and Irish Lions squad for the tour to South Africa doesn’t come back to haunt him this weekend.

The returning Welsh coach admitted he “probably got it wrong” in not picking Sexton to take on the world champion Springboks on the day he announced his side for Saturday’s Six Nations opener at the Principality Stadium

The Irish skipper quickly overcame the disappointment of not going on a third successive Lions tour and has since driven Ireland to the top of the world rankings on the back of a first series win in New Zealand last summer.

Sexton is expected to be declared fit to lead Ireland into the 2023 Six Nations this week, when he will come up against the man who filled the Lions No 10 jersey two years ago, Dan Biggar.

Gatland is back in charge of Wales following the sacking of Wayne Pivac after the Autumn Nations Series and is hoping to pick up where he left off in 2019, when Wales walloped Ireland to win the the Grand Slam of his first reign.

“It was a big decision for him to be left out of the last Lions tour. That was a tough call,” admitted Gatland, head coach on the last three Lions tours.

He has probably proved me wrong in terms of the way he has been playing and the way he has been leading as a player for Ireland. He should be proud of that in terms of what he has achieved in the game because it is pretty special.

“He will go down as one of the great players of Irish rugby when he does decide to hang up his boots. I think he has been playing some great rugby in the last year or so.”

Ireland’s Johnny Sexton, head coach Andy Farrell, Scotland head coach Gregor Townsend, Jamie Ritchie, Wales head coach Warren Gatland and Ken Owens. Tom Maher / INPHO Tom Maher / INPHO / INPHO

Double Lions skipper Sam Warburton stated in his newspaper column this week that some of the Welsh players found it difficult to get on the same wavelength as Sexton on the 2013 tour to Australia.

“He’s so demanding and has such high expectations. That’s what drives him and he’s vocal,” added Gatland.

I can remember Johnny once having a crack at the forwards (in 2013) and Paul O’Connell just turned away — he didn’t answer him back — and said, ‘I’m going to kill him one of these days!’

Gatland has stayed with the tried and tested for his return game, fielding five players with more than 100 Test caps to their name. He has gone with Leigh Halfpenny over Liam Williams at full back to try to overcome the kicking threat posed by the Irish half-backs, but has given 20-year-old Ospreys centre Joe Hawkins his first Six Nations start alongside George North.

Gatland is happy to go into the game, as he did in his first game in charge of Wales back in 2008 against England at Twickenham, as underdogs. He believes all the pressure is on the Irish.

“I suppose it is a free hit for us in that the expectation and pressure is on them as favourites to win. It hasn’t always been the easiest tag to carry for Irish and Welsh teams in the past,” added Gatland.

“You can get an upset, because there is a huge amount of history and rivalry between those two nations and there’s been a lot of close games.

The secret, and I’m sure Andy Farrell will be talking about this, is that you don’t run away from that, you look to embrace the expectations of being the number-one team in the world.

“That’s definitely the attitude I’d be taking in if I was in the Ireland camp. I’ve had that experience in the past with Wales.

“For us, it is very much focusing on ourselves for this weekend and putting things in place that we’ve been working on in the last couple of weeks. You get such a short amount of preparation in the Six Nations and obviously with new coaches and a new squad that is challenging.

“But I’ve been really pleased the way the players have applied themselves both on and off the field in terms of preparation.”