Bad blood.
Ireland have done it. Joe Schmidt’s side went to Sydney and got the result they were looking for, edging past Australia to win 16-20 after an incredibly tight, tense and endlessly dramatic series decider.
Johnny Sexton had an eventful evening inside the Allianz Stadium. Ireland’s talismanic fly-half received a thundering hit from Samu Kerevi late on after having already been forced to take over as captain following Peter O’Mahony’s injury.
The Munster flanker was forced to leave the field in agony following a mid-air tangle with Israel Folau. The Irish skipper collided with Folau as he was being lifted and landed on his back, forcing an early end to his 50th Ireland appearance.
As O’Mahony received treatment, Sexton confronted the referee in quite startling fashion.
“I know you hate me, but I’m the captain now. You have to talk to me,” Sexton told French official Pascal Gaüzère, plucking out a memorable line from the Tom Hanks film Captain Phillips in the heat of a fractious Test.
https://twitter.com/dublinbarista/status/1010474168868048896
It formed part of a tense evening between player and referee as Sexton also looked to have made a later turnover only for Gaüzère to wave play on in the dying embers.
Ireland’s victory ultimately renders it immaterial but Sexton’s approach to speaking to the referee is fascinating. It’s a pity football referees aren’t wearing microphones at the World Cup (we would have loved to hear what Neymar was moaning about against Costa Rica on Friday).
Pole-axedhttps://t.co/gAjPkKqQm9
— SportsJOE (@SportsJOEdotie) June 23, 2018
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