That fire is still burning within the Ireland captain. He’s far from done yet.
There was a moment in the first half of Ireland’s Six Nations encounter with Scotland when Luke Pearce summoned over Johnny Sexton for a chat. The referee was not happy with James Ryan over-stepping his mark.
Stuart Hogg and Ben White had both been up to some ‘dark arts’ around the Irish breakdown and Ryan approached Pearce when the Scotland fullback was pinged for a second time in a short spell. Ryan asked for Hogg to be yellow-carded and Pearce dismissed him before warning Sexton that the lock would be sin-binned himself if he asked for something like that again.
“Grand,” Sexton agreed, “I was going to ask you if he didn’t.”
Brilliant from Sexton 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/AQknKtXnpc
— RugbyLAD 🏉 (@RugbyLAD7) March 12, 2023
Johnny Sexton on quick lineout mix-up
On the day he equalled Ronan O’Gara’s record for Six Nations points, Johnny Sexton showed his fierce competitiveness was still fizzing, even nigh-on an hour after the final whistle had blown.
The Ireland outhalf was asked about the disallowed try that saved Scotland’s bacon, early in the first half. The Scots tried to take a quick lineout with a new ball that was snatched mid-air by Caelan Doris. A few phases later, Dam Sheehan crashed over but the whole sequence was ruled invalid as the home side used a new ball to take the lineout.
Their blushes were saved and both Andy Farrell and Sexton were still simmering about it, even after their side’s 22-7 win.
SEXTON: We didn’t use a new ball. I don’t understand it. I said it at the time, I don’t get it. I still don’t get it. You obviously have to use a new ball because the ball has gone out of play.
REPORTER: Did you ask the ref about it?
SEXTON: We tried to…
FARRELL: It’s irrelevant. He brought it back for the new ball, but all the lineout was set. We don’t get it, but we’ll get to understand it.
As his head coach finished out that part of the press briefing, Sexton was by his side, shaking his head and stewing about one call in a game of hundreds. Never fully satisfied, especially if he things the wrong call was made. It is part of what makes him such a great player.
On captaining Ireland to a Grand Slam win in Dublin, Sexton described the prospect as ‘the stuff of dreams’.
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