SEXTON SCARE
Captain Best eases fears over fly-half’s fitness
JOHNNY SEXTON gave Ireland a late injury scare to add another ingredient to this bubbling cauldron of a Six Nations clash against Wales.
The 32-year-old fly-half struggled with a back problem in Friday’s captain’s run —leaving rookie playmaker Joey Carbery, 22, to step into the breach.
But Ireland skipper Rory Best was quick to calm fears of another big loss, with Tadhg Furlong and Iain Henderson already out.
‘He’s just getting older, so he needed longer to warm up,’ insisted Best. ‘He came into the tail-end of the session. He let the subs run at the start and the starters finished. No concerns.’
The issue adds intrigue to the quiet rivalry which has simmered between Ireland and Wales all week.
Then there is the Warren Gatland factor. The Wales coach reached a landmark 100 games in charge against the side which sacked him 17 years ago. Perhaps the last decade — three championships and two Grand Slams for Wales under the Kiwi — means there is a green tinge of envy.
For all their club dominance in Europe — six Heineken Cups to Wales’s zero — Ireland have never had an era-defining Six Nations side, despite a Slam in 2009 and a couple of other titles. Unlike Gatland’s Wales.
That introduces Wales assistant coach Shaun Edwards, the great union innovator after converting from league. He was keen to highlight his record on Thursday — clearly feeling his 13 trophies are forgotten as pundits laud his apprentice, today’s opposite number Andy Farrell.
For Edwards, there is a wrong to right after Gatland chose Farrell to run the Lions defence on the last two tours instead of him. Farrell roared that ‘average is not acceptable’ when asked about a leaky Irish defence this week.
So, to the combative playmakers. Sexton and Dan Biggar seem cut from the same cloth, as Welsh captain Alun Wyn Jones noted. ‘They are two similar players, both aggressive in the right ways,’ he said. And Liam Williams, another Lions tourist, has a special nickname for his Irish pal.
‘I always call Johnny “my coach” and I’ll do so again today,’ said the wing, back after an abdominal injury. ‘He’s class, there are no ifs or buts about it. He and Owen Farrell are two world-class tens.’
That comment may make Rob Howley, Wales’s other assistant, rather uneasy. Fortunately for him, Sean O’Brien’s barbs about his tour role have not resurfaced as the flanker is one of five Irish Lions unavailable.
Wales are missing four of their own in Sam Warburton, Taulupe Faletau, Rhys Webb and Jonathan Davies. But Ken Owens and Best are in.
‘It’s nothing personal,’ said Ireland hooker O’Brien of the contest between mates. ‘If you come out on top of a player like Ken then you’re doing well.’
Ireland have not lost at home in this tournament for five years but Wales are unbeaten in three against the Irish, so something has to give.
‘Hopefully we’ll have a war in the afternoon and then have a couple of pints!’ said Williams, summing up the whole event perfectly.