An impressive winning streak is over.
Johnny Sexton will not be joining that exclusive club of Leinster players that won a European Cup abroad before returning home. The out-half was part of a Racing Métro team that were beaten 12-11 by Saracens in the Champions Cup, on Sunday.
Marcelo Bosch knocked over a last-minute penalty after referee Nigel Owens penalised the French side, who were trying to run down the clock, for going off their feet at a ruck.
The defeat was the first time ever that Sexton was on the losing side in knock-out European action.
It is a streak that had stretched back 11 games, all the way to his first Heineken Cup outing, against Munster, in 2009. Sexton helped Leinster to Heineken Cup titles in 2009, 2011 and 2012. He did not feature in the province’s 2010 semi-final exit at the hands of Toulouse.
In 2012/13, Leinster did not make the Heineken Cup knock-outs but Sexton appeared in their Challenge Cup triumphs over Biarritz and Stade Francais.
As for the Sarries match, it was one to forget for Sexton. He missed a conversion after Maxime Machenaud had scored a try for the Parisians. The kick was 10-metres in from the sideline and to the right of the posts – an Achilles’ heel of Sexton’s place-kicking game.
Just after the half-hour mark, Sexton took a blow to the head when attempting to make a defensive tackle. The knock can from teammate Henry Chavancy’s right hand as the centre was attempting to bring down a charging Jacques Burger.
Sexton received treatment on the pitch but was fit to continue. Machenaud took over the goal-kicking duties thereafter and landed two penalties. The Irishman was replaced by Mike Phillips with six minutes to go.
Sexton’s focus, in his final two months in Paris, will now be on helping Racing’s quest to claim the Top 14 trophy.
Machenaud, meanwhile, has since apologised for singling out teammate Fabrice Metz – the player who conceded that crucial penalty – in a post-match interview. Machenaud had declared, ‘I told him four times to stay on his feet, we can not accept that… The referee told us 20 times on the [final play] he was going to whistle. We can only blame ourselves.’
Machenaud took to Twitter, on Monday, to say sorry for his hot-headed interview.
Une interview d’après match un peu “trop” à chaud! La déception l’a emporté sur la lucidité. Fier de mes coéquipiers. 2/2
— Maxime Machenaud (@MaximeMachenaud) April 5, 2015
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