Why always him?
Johnny Sexton returned to the international fold to inspire Ireland to a 18-11 victory over a French side that is wrestling with demons and trying to find an effective game-plan in a World Cup year.
The Racing Métro out-half kicked five penalties, ran the Irish backline with gusto and tactically kicked like a dream. He was deservedly named man-of-the-match and even survived two crunching collisions with 120kg French centre Mathieu Bastareaud. Sexton picked up a concussion, last March, when he collided with the Toulon man at Stade de France.
In his post-match interview with RTE, Sexton remarked that he caught up with Bastareaud after the final whistle and asked, ‘Why always me?’
Conor Murray told SportsJOE, after the game, that all the talk of Bastareaud gunning for him had ‘revved Johnny up even more’ during the week. Indeed, the out-half won the first round, after seven minutes, when he stood up to the Frenchman, took him down and, with the help of several green jerseys, won his team a penalties.
Ireland coach Joe Schmidt confirmed, post-match, that Sexton underwent, and passed, a Head Injury Assessment when he was getting stitched up for an eye injury.
Schmidt commented, ‘He was off for blood, he had to be sutured. He got a few stitches and a shiner. We were more worried that if that shiner blows up a little bit, it’s a little bit hard to judge distance and, therefore, we were a little bit worried.
‘Our medical team did a HIA on him anyway, just as a precaution; to make sure. But he started giving out to the doc when the doc first came on and we knew he was pretty lucid, because that’s just like Johnny.’
Schmidt added, ‘Johnny is fine. He’s probably just frustrated that he missed one kick for touch that went out on the full, but I thought he kicked incredibly well out of his hand, including one fantastic kick into the right corner early on.’
Gargantuan French prop Uini Antonio believes his team fell short as they put in a ‘7 out of 10 performance’ against a world-class Irish side.
He told us, ‘They won the tournament last year, so they are capable of doing that again. And they are in pole position to do the Grand Slam, I think.’
