DROP OF MAGIC!
Sexton’s stunning kick in added time gives Ireland a winning start in their championship bid
JOE SCHMIDT has hailed Ireland’s composure after Johnny Sexton’s monster drop goal at the end of a 41phase move dramatically clinched a two-point win against France last night.
Ireland’s abject record in Paris looked set for another tale of woe after Teddy Thomas’ converted try had given the hosts a late 13-12 lead.
However, Schmidt’s class of 2018 demonstrated how they are made of sterner stuff, fighting their way upfield to set up Sexton for the decisive strike.
‘It’s pretty hard to explain how you feel when you think that the game has got away and you have let it slip, and suddenly you have grabbed it because of what I felt was an incredible team effort to work their way up the pitch about 45 metres,’ Schmidt said.
‘Then to add on at the end of it a 40metre drop goal, it was fairly inspirational. Even the fact that so many people had to be involved.
‘We had to drop kick the ball to start with and Iain Henderson got it
back. We played a number of phases, a cross-kick for Keith Earls who leapt three or four feet in the air to claim it.
‘It was very, very slow (ruck) ball. It was difficult to clear our ball a number of times and we didn’t appear to be going to get much of a chance.
‘And then when he [Sexton] struck the drop goal, I was just willing it to have enough distance to get over because it looked it might when he struck it. When it did the coaching staff, we all stood up as one and cheered with the other Irish supporters in the stadium.’
Not since Ronan O’Gara dropped a goal at the death in the opening round 2011 win over Italy in Rome have Ireland relied on such late drama to get a Six Nations campaign off on a positive note.
They dominated in Paris for long tracts of a largely sterile affair, but lack of scoreboard reward left them vulnerable to the late French ambush that would have been a Gallic success had they not missed with a penalty kick to put the hosts 16-12 clear.
Schmidt agreed that defeat would have been a cruel blow. ‘We felt it was one that got away if it managed to get away… but people maybe underestimate how hard it is to come here and win. Having metrics (statistics) in your favour don’t necessarily give you the one metric you want at the end of the day which is the 15-13 we managed to scramble.’
The coach, who said Josh van der Flier won’t feature against Italy next Saturday after suspected medial ligament damage, admitted frustration about Ireland’s inability to score a try for the third time in the past four Six Nations fixtures against the French.
‘You’re always disappointed when you’re not scoring tries, but it is very difficult to put any team under pressure if the ball is slow… it’s incredibly frustrating.’