LAST UPDATE | 9 Feb 2022
IRELAND CAPTAIN JOHNNY Sexton was once again at his influential best against Wales last Saturday, the out-half reaping the benefits of an attack system which continues to evolve and impress.
With multiple distributors and ball-carrying threats now available through the team, Sexton finds himself in a position to move out of the first receiver role more often as Ireland mix up their point of attack.
Against Wales, he did this while playing direct and aggressively. Sexton finished the game with nine carries and beat five defenders during his 64 minutes on the pitch – more than any other Irish player – while he only kicked the ball out of hand four times.
It might be a stretch to say the old dog is learning new tricks at this stage of his career, but the freedom granted within Ireland’s current gameplan is certainly providing a platform for the 36-year-old to continue to shine in what is his 13th Six Nations campaign.
“Yeah, the coaches have challenged me to get better in certain areas. And I enjoy the system that we’re playing in,” Sexton says.
I enjoy having that… it’s not… yeah, it’s freedom. It’s freedom to stay in the system and make decisions in it. Play what you see and the freedom to go and do that. Things have worked for us. But I was always harping on about it in the last Six Nations.
“We weren’t too far away. We weren’t too far away in the first couple of games (last year). We weren’t too far away even in the campaign before that.
“Things just click with time. And with getting certain individuals back in the team who make a big difference, and it all comes together. I think it’s just a bit of time and guys getting comfortable because it’s very different to how the provinces play. It takes a bit of getting used to.
“But I’m loving it, all the boys are loving it too and now it’s about figuring out different ways we can try to improve it.
“(But) It’s only enjoyable because we’re winning. Any team that I’ve ever been involved with and we’ve won, I’ve loved. I’ve loved playing for Ireland in any system that we’ve played in, but if you look back the best teams you played in and the most enjoyable environments are when you win. That’s because you get the moments after games as well as some as the moments in games.
“Like, some of the moments that we’ve had in games recently, they’ll live with you forever. Even Garry’s (Ringrose) try (against Wales) – what an amazing try. The stadium just goes crazy, we love it as a team, it’s a bonus-point try at home in the Aviva Stadium.
“You love it when you win, and that’s the most important thing when it comes to it.”
That attacking plan has been led by Mike Catt, a coach who came under heavy scrutiny last year when Ireland were struggling to create scoring opportunities, let alone execute them, in this tournament.
Twelve months on, and Ireland have moved up to third in the world rankings on the back of Saturday’s opening round win over Wales, with the squad looking to extend a nine-game winning run when they take on France in Paris on Saturday.
“All the coaches have had great input on their areas of the game. Faz has a huge input on the attack too,” Sexton continues.
“Catty looks after the backs and the starter plays and we’ve made huge strides forward in the last season or two in terms of the ownership of that, making sure we’re nailed on. Andy does a lot of the bigger picture phased stuff and as players we are doing now what they’ve asked from us from day one, but we’re just getting better at it.
And we have the necessary skills which make us capable of doing it too, forwards being able to catch-pass and being able to go to the line when needed, when to push-pass it. All those things that you have seen. They put the onus on us at the start for us to get to that level and we’re starting to get there now.
“It’s not perfect. There are plenty of areas we need to work on from the Wales game and obviously we will be coming up against much bigger men (against France). Their front five are massive, the back-row are big as well and we will need to come up with different ways to keep the ball moving and hopefully we can do that.”
Across his long career, Sexton has experienced plenty of good and bad days in France – Saturday’s meeting will mark his seventh international game at the Stade de France. His match-winning drop goal in 2018 is one of the more recent highs; the 35-17 defeat – and infamous glance at the big screen while being substituted – on his most recent visit in 2020 a day that stung for some time.
I think it takes, obviously, a really good team (to win in France). And you need to have some players that produce moments, some big moments and, as a team, we’re gonna have to go through some tough times, I’m sure.
“France will have some purple patches that we need to make sure we handle and, you know, over the years the times that we have won or drawn we have had some great performances.
“And that’s what all our focus is on, trying to get our best performance to date out there and see where that leaves us. You are never guaranteed anything over there but if you play really well it certainly helps.”
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