“If this is the peak, it is no good for anybody” – Johnny Sexton

More than a few All Blacks took issue with the Ireland captain's constant chirping at referee Luke Pearce.

Johnny Sexton likes a moan. He will freely admit that himself. The Leinster outhalf can often be heard on the referee's microphone as he berates opponents, officials and even teammates. Everyone that plays with him is used to get an earful from Sexton. Indeed, Nigel Owens only told us, earlier this week that Sexton and Peter Stringer ranked as two of the top five biggest head-melts during his time as a Test match referee. https://www.instagram.com/p/CWLmnFHKC7d/

Johnny Sexton on the receiving end of late hits

Against a strong New Zealand side, Sexton was in the wars from the get-go. The captain was on receiving end of late hits from Codie Taylor, for which he was sin-binned, and Ethan Blackadder. There were a few more, but they were the only ones referee Luke Pearce penalised the visitors for. On one occasion, 20 minutes in, Pearce was admonishing Sexton for questioning a call, and telling him to sort his players out and leave the refereeing to him. Dane Coles, on for the yellow-carded Taylor, took issue. He declared:

"Christ he's a mouthy c***, isn't he?"

https://twitter.com/RTErugby/status/1459548297560002565 Referee Pearce warned Coles to 'be careful' but did not sanction him. Later in the game, as Sexton complained about another decision, All Blacks captain Sam Whitelock could be heard on the ref-mic calling him 'a moany bastard'. Following the game, which Ireland won 29-20, Sexton spoke about how this must be a catalyst for his team.

"If this is the peak, it is no good for anybody," Sexton said. "This is the start of a two-year journey and it's important that we continue to improve. There is definitely room for improvement individually and you can see some of the stuff in the first half in terms of taking our chances. "We could have scored a few tries in the first half. We need to keep our feet on the ground and keep improving. "This is just the start and we need to keep building. The thing about beating New Zealand - it gives a lift to the country but you don't get a trophy."

There are no trophies being handed out until next March. All Ireland can do, next weekend, is finish 2021 with another strong performance. Should they beat a decent Argentinean side, they were go into the 2022 Six Nations confident of getting some tangible results from this bolder style of rugby.

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