Sexton ready to tough it out against French
Ire land’s pre mie r playmake r re turns from injury and is the major targe t for the roughhouse tre atme nt
JOHNNY SEXTON cannot wait to stand up to anothe r RBS 6 Nations skirmish with France , accordingto Ire land de fe nce coach Andy Farre ll.
Ire land’s lynchpin fly-half will re turn from a month battlingcalf trouble for today’s clash with Le s Ble us in Dublin, once again the main targe t of France ’s physical approach.
Se xton was knocke d unconscious in Ire land’s 22-20 win in Paris in 2014, suffe re d a nasty black e ye whe n the Irish pre vaile d 18-11 in Dublin a ye ar late r and was the n subje cte d to ope n ple dge s of spe cial tre atme nt at the World Cup in 2015.
Farre ll has, howe ve r, still backe d the 3 1-ye ar-old to thrive unde r the thinly ve ile d thre at of furthe r physical bullyingfrom the Fre nch, who have made a habit of homingin on Ire land’s pre mie r playmake r.
“Johnny’s got ple nty of e ne rgy in de fe nce hasn’t he ?” said Farre ll. “The 10 has got such a re sponsibility to run the attack, but the way he shows such bigcommitme nt in de fe nce as we ll, it spe aks volume s for him as a pe rson.
“Johnny brings that line spe e d and e ne rgy we e k to we e k, and he ’s ce rtainly e xcite d about ge ttingback amongst it this we e ke nd.”
France prop Eddy Be n Arous promise d to “go afte r” Se xton “200 pe r ce nt” be fore Ire land the n dispatche d Le s Ble us 24-9 at the 2015 World Cup.
Se xton hobble d out of that match afte r le ss than half-an-hour with a groin proble m, afte r coppinganothe r instalme nt of the now ongoing roughhouse tre atme nt from the Fre nch. Yoann Mae strithe n caught Se xton with a late tackle as Ire land slumpe d to a 10-9 Six Nations de fe at in Paris in 2016, e scapingce nsure afte r re fe re e Jaco Pe ype r re fuse d to re vie w the incide nt.
France will cle arly re pe at one of the ir favourite ploys of biddingto unse ttle Se xton whe n facingIre land in Dublin, but Farre ll insists the fit-again fly-half is re ady for ye t anothe r rumble .
“We talk about de tail and how smart we can be in de fe nce , but ultimate ly if we can’t back that up with a bit of attitude it all come s to nothing,” said Farre ll. “And that’s ce rtainly what Johnny has. You want de fe nce to be e njoyable and it de finite ly is whe n that attitude is the re . That’s what you’re afte r.”
De fe nce coach Farre ll has, howe ve r, admitte d Ire land must raise the ir re arguard action conside rably to fe nd off the varie d thre ats of a France outfit if not fully re store d to the glorie s of old, at le ast once more pre pare d to attack from e ve rywhe re .
“Our de fe nce in the first half against Scotland wasn’t good e nough,” said Farre ll, re callingIre land’s 27-22 de fe at in Edinburgh on Fe bruary 4. “In the se cond half I thought we got a lot of ball back from our de fe nce . You play what’s in front of you and in the Italian game we force d a lot of e rrors and got a lot of turnove r ball from that.
“We ’re happy with the progre ss in the se cond half in Scotland and the Italy game . But tomorrow’s a diffe re nt ke ttle of fish. We ’ve got to bringour A game . The Fre nch are de finite ly improving. I thought the y had a good thre at through the autumn, the y playe d confide ntly but also had a bit of the ir old flair back as we ll.
“Width in attack, the ir offloading game . It all come s through dominance in the carry. The y are ce rtainly backing the mse lve s at this mome nt in time , which cre ate s that bit of space in the line or out wide . We ’re aware of that, so we ’ve got to make sure that we stop it.”
Captain Rory Be st has admitte d that Ire land must channe l a fe ar factor of France ’s flue nt attack in orde r to pull off a much-cove te d victory.
“I think the Fre nch are de finite ly a te am that you’ve got to fe ar in te rms of the ir rugby ability,” said Be st.
“So it’s massive ly important to hold on to the ball. This Fre nch te am is cominghe re as a ve ry, ve ry dange rous side , e spe cially off turnove r ball and broke n-fie ld play.
“We ne e d to make sure we put the m unde r pre ssure whe n we have the ball, make sure we ke e p it and force the m to make a lot of tackle s. We know the y are ve ry dange rous with the ball, but from turnove rs the y can be le thal.”