It was the first trophy Johnny Sexton won as Ireland captain but he gave it away straight away.
It didn’t look like a pre-planned thing and you could see the surprise on James Ryan’s face as, having been presented with the Triple Crown, Sexton passed the trophy over to Ryan and Andrew Conway to celebrate with their team-mates.
Conway missed Saturday’s win over Scotland due to a knee niggle but it was a particularly nice touch from Sexton to give Ryan his moment, when you consider that we don’t know when he’ll be back on a rugby pitch again. He’s had five concussions in the last 18 months, suffering another against England last weekend and will be looking to put that right over the next few months.
Ireland celebrate winning the Triple Crown ☘️#GuinnessSixNations | #IREvSCO pic.twitter.com/K4c0196uUm
— Guinness Men's Six Nations (@SixNationsRugby) March 19, 2022
Unfortunately, the Triple Crown was as good as it got for Ireland with England failing to beat France in the final game of this tournament. The French powered to a 25-13 win in the decider which helped them to their first Grand Slam since 2010.
None-the-less, it was still a positive campaign from Andy Farrell’s Ireland and after the win over Scotland, Johnny Sexton talked about the spirit in the squad. He put those words into action when handing the trophy over to Ryan after the game.
“That’s the most important thing, we keep going forward,” said Sexton.
“From day one under Andy Farrell, we’ve been getting better and better.
Knowing he doesn't have too many days like this left in the Aviva, Johnny Sexton made sure to enjoy it with his kids Amy, Luca and Sophie pic.twitter.com/T0Un9mb1tT
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) March 19, 2022
“Last year, Andy Farrell was getting written off, I was getting written off, we were getting written off. We know you’re not always that far from being slated off.
“We will keep our feet on the ground but we are enjoying it.
“We have bought into it. We are the closest bunch you could imagine… we said beforehand we will try and get the five points then sit back with a beer and enjoy whatever happens.”
