Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
I’LL PROVE MY WORTH
Skipper Sexton insists desire still burns brightly as he and Irish team-mates bid to banish Six Nations disappointment
JOHNNY SEXTON is driven by a desire not to go stale at the top level.
The 35-year-old knows Ireland have a lot to prove in the upcoming Autumn Nations Cup after their Six Nations disappointment in Paris.
And, with Andy Farrell naming his team today for Friday’s opener against Wales, the out-half admits there are questions about his captaincy aincy of the team after his head-shaking haking episode at being replaced d in th e Stad e d e France e
(right).
Asked yesterday if he felt that the team had a point to prove, Sexton responded: ‘I always feel that way because you can be the best thing since sliced bread one day and then everyone writes you off the next. It’s the same with every part of your game.
“Even at times you’re going well you’ve got that nagging doubt in your head.
“I’m sure everyone is the same and as a team we’re the same. We want to go out and show how good we are because what we saw last weekend wasn’t what we wanted to put out there. Hopefully we can bounce back this week.”
Sexton and Farrell know that a lot of stats were in Ireland’s favour over the course of a championship that began in February and ended two Saturdays ago. But ultimately they finished in third behind the two teams that beat them – England and France.
Sexton highlighted what he believes is the main issue to address. “I think it’s that ruthless streak in us, making sure we capitalise on chances,” he remarked. “Those Those stats should point towards us being up u towards the top of the Six Nations table.
“If we’d taken a few of the chances against France maybe we could have won it. It’s really just capitalising on the c chances we create and t trying to continue cre creating them.
“I think we’ve made some big step steps forward in some parts of our game and we haven’t capitalised on the opportunities. Hopefully, we can take a step forward in that area.” Sexton warns that Wales will also be hurting after finishing in fifth place in a poor championship by their standards but the Dubliner expects Leinster wing James Lowe to make an instant Irish impact. He said: “James has been looking good in training and if he’s picked, he’ll be good on Friday.”