MUNSTER SCRUM-HALF Craig Casey has become one of the big characters in the Ireland squad in recent seasons and he couldn’t resist making a joke about Johnny Sexton after the captain’s record-breaking night in Nantes.
A first-half try saw Sexton leapfrog Ronan O’Gara’s record as Ireland’s all-time top points scorer, with the Leinster man setting a new bar of 1,090.
Sexton scored 16 points in the first half before making way for Ross Byrne at the break. The Ireland skipper now has a maximum of just five games left before he retires, and Casey joked that Sexton should move south when he does hang up his boots.
“I’ve been saying that he’s soon to retire and I’m trying to get him down to Munster as a coach next year, almost like an EPDO [elite player development officer], but no there’s a bit of craic between the whole squad,” said Casey, who came off the bench last night.
“It’s great for Johnny and his family. I know his son Luca is another competitive little fella, he’ll probably want to take over his dad’s points record at some stage. I could see that.
“It’s unbelievable for him, it’s a testament for him, the commitment he shows to the game is second to none. I just said hello over there and to pass over a legend like ROG is class and to have two lads there in Irish rugby is class.”
Ireland prop Dave Kilcoyne, who also came off the bench at Stade de la Beaujoire, hailed his captain as he underlined just how relentless Sexton is.
“I suppose that’s the true sign of the character of the man he is,” said Kilcoyne. “He always wants more, he’s such a highly driven individual but at the same time he’s such a team-first man, such a selfless man, and the relationship himself and Faz [Andy Farrell] have, they’re both similarly minded.
“They’re both so highly driven, always want more, more, more. But they have such a team-first mentality and it’s so infectious and it’s taken a long time, we’ve been building this team for a long time and it’s just great to be a part of it.”
Kilcoyne is renowned as another of the characters within the Ireland squad and he said he’s enjoying his position in charge of fines when team-mates whose standards slip.
The Munster man is one of three ‘sheriffs’ in the squad along with Jack Conan and James Ryan.
“I don’t shy away from it,” said Kilcoyne. “Law and order must be maintained in the squad. It’s good craic. Faz encourages us all to be ourselves and let your personality shine through. I’ve always been myself and I know how important it is to have real positive energy within the squad.
“It only takes one fella to be off, or to allow energy to dip or whatever but it’s really important to have the squad morale right and if we can help out in any way with that, we will.”
On top of encouraging people to just be themselves, Farrell has made the players’ families a big part of the set-up.
That was obvious again last night and Casey was among those whose families were in Nantes for the game.
“It’s great,” said Casey. “Faz and the coaching staff are really good at that, including all our family.
“We like to think of ourselves as one big family, as a playing group and a coaching group, so to involve our family and see everyone else’s family, it’s brilliant, it’s very good and it’s been class to have family in and out and just always be welcome.
“It’s a very happy environment to be in when you can bring your family in and they enjoy themselves.”
