“Be careful. Be careful, now!”
Such was the magnitude, and ease, of Ireland’s win over Wales that Andy Farrell was able to sit back and joke as Johnny Sexton was asked about his missed kicks from the tee.
The Ireland captain had a superb game as he once again hummed in a dangerous backline and led his team well in a 29-7 victory. Ireland were so superior against the reigning champions that there was this overhanging sense that they could, and should, have won by more than 22 points.
The game was over as early as the 52nd minute, when Sexton bent a touchline conversion in after Andrew Conway’s second try. Coming just three minutes after he had been thwacked by a yellow-card Josh Adams hit, the kick was more proof of the outhalf’s fortitude.
Garry Ringrose secured the bonus point with 20 minutes to go but Wales grabbed a late consolation and Ireland could not add anything to the scoreboard after that fourth try.
On the latest House of Rugby [LISTEN from 16:00 below], Ireland letting Wales off the hook was discussed. Sexton had something to say, too, when asked about his three missed kicks off the tee.
Johnny Sexton lines up a conversion against Wales at the Aviva Stadium. (Photo by David Fitzgerald/Sportsfile)Johnny Sexton on his seven kicks against Wales
“One of the most satisfying things I saw against Wales,” former Ireland star Denis Hickie told House of Rugby, “was that, as pivotal as Johnny Sexton is to everything Ireland do, you do get a feeling that the squad is more and more balanced, and their game isn’t hinging on certain key individuals.
“That’s not to say that when Johnny plays, he doesn’t get them to another level. The drive and the focus that he gives them, and that control and execution of plays around him, he just runs that element of the game for them so well… He had another great game.”
Host Greg O’Shea noted Sexton “uncharacteristically” missing two penalties just off centre, early in the game. The outhalf, perhaps conscious of swirling winds, made heavy connections with his two penalty misses in the first half.
He responded by landing two touchline conversions in the second half and was livid with himself when he missed the target after Ringrose got Ireland’s fourth. Asked about his kicking mechanics after the game, it was Andy Farrell that first jumped in with that ‘be careful’ warning.
ANDY FARRELL: “Just let him calm down for one second, and he’ll tell you!”
JOHNNY SEXTON: “With some of the kicks… even the first ones, they were hit exactly where I wanted to hit. And it was almost… I don’t know what the term for it is, but you’re aiming slightly right and expecting the wind to go right to left, and it goes the other way. It was a tough day. I was happy with how I recovered from it. I was happy with how I didn’t let it affect the other parts of (my) game.
“But, yeah, you want to get them all. I’ll lie awake tonight, probably thinking about them. At the same time, there were a couple of them were there was nothing I could have done about it. The one at the end annoyed me as I knew what line I had to hit it on, and the wind calmed down and I changed my mind. That’s what annoyed me the most. The other ones – good kicks but just one of those things.”
“Thanks for asking!” Sexton finished, with a grin.
As Sexton mentioned, the first half misses did not seep into other parts of his game and he ran the boards for Ireland with real intent.
France, as Hickie notes, will have a much harder drilled defence, under Shaun Edwards. Sexton will again be crucial to Ireland’s chances, but it has been that way since November 2009. He’ll be ready to step up when required.
