SHADOW OF THE COLOSSUS
O’connell: Johnny’s legacy will hang over this team for a while
PAUL O’CONNELL says Johnny Sexton’s spirit lives on in this history-chasing Ireland side.
O’connell (right) has revealed that he was a little apprehensive after Sexton’s post-world Cup retirement about a potential loss of momentum among the players.
However the performances and results since have allayed any fears, with two big victories over France and Italy keeping Ireland on the back to back Grand Slam trail.
“I’m not surprised,” said O’connell. “You’re very hopeful that the work we’ve done with all the players comes through – but you’re a bit nervous that it mightn’t happen as well.
“We’re only two games in, we’ve plenty of battles ahead of us.
“One thing that maybe Johnny has given a lot of the guys is, he’s shown how much you have to care about the team, how much you have to care about your preparation and how much you care about how the team feels on Saturday. And he’s a great example to some of the guys who are going to end up as leaders in the team.
“And while he’s gone, I think a bit of his legacy of how he used to go about his business still lives on with us.
“A lot of the guys – Peter
O’mahony, Caelan Doris,
James Ryan, Iain Henderson, Garry Ringrose – have his qualities in them and that helps us to a good place every Saturday when we play.”
O’connell says that given the influence he wielded, former skipper Sexton’s shadow will hang over the set-up for quite some time to come.
That can only be a positive thing, however.
“There’s no point denying it, Johnny’s big part of how we play but he was big part of how we prepare in the weeks as well,” said the forwards coach. He was a big part of how we trained. He drove a very high standard because of the high standards he had himself.
“So to not have him in there in the week, in the build-up to a big game like that in those two weeks, we had to train well, to prepare well and then go out and deliver on the day.
“It’s a good reflection on the leadership that has been built up over the last few years that we were able to.
“It’s not going to be easy without Johnny, I’m sure there will be plenty of tough games but I think the leadership did a great job – obviously Jack Crowley did a great job at outhalf as well.
“It was a brilliant win against France but it was obviously tainted a bit by the red card – I’m sure they would have been a different team with 15 men.”
Wales are up next at the Aviva Stadium on Saturday week and O’connell said that the selection meeting will be “tough” after a good performance with six changes against Italy.
He is hopeful that Hugo Keenan can feature – the full-back was at training yesterday but didn’t participate – and O’connell confirmed that Peter O’mahony, Garry Ringrose, Bundee Aki and Tadhg Furlong will be fit to return.
“It’s something we’ve struggled on in previous games when we’ve made lots of changes, we haven’t really hit our straps and we’ve been sloppy,” he said.
“That’s not to say we weren’t sloppy last weekend at times. We certainly were, but to keep them to nil, to score 36 points and have a few tries disallowed, it’s a good indication of where we are.
“The selection meeting will be tough but it will only be good for us, I think the guys that get picked will be over the moon to get picked and eager to stay in there and the guys that don’t get picked will push hard. So it’s a great place for us to be in.”