Sexton: Still way to go but it’s progress

IRELAND skipper Johnny Sexton insisted Ireland are still a work in progress after their best win of the Autumn.

“You can’t just go out and dominate 80 minutes, sometimes you have to hang in there and roll with the punches, and I thought we did that brilliantly,” Sexton said.

“We went 6-0 down so the way we wanted to start the game didn’t happen. That shows character, that shows balls from the boys to bounce back and to dominate a large part of the next 60 minutes.

“In the first 20 they had the upper hand but it’s Test match rugby, you don’t get your way all the time.”

Sexton added: “We feel that we aren’t at the top table yet. We haven’t been able to win away from home against the big teams like France and England but we’ve won every other game.

“Obviously the performances haven’t been amazing for 80 minutes. Last week was a prime example, good 40 minutes and then we took the foot off the gas second half. It wasn’t good enough and we were told that.

“But we back our coaches, we think they’re doing an outstanding job. It’s very different from the previous regime and it takes a little bit of getting used. We’ve another step to go but we’re happy with our progress and I think today showed it.”

Scotland captain Stuart Hogg said: “I felt for 70 minutes we could have been in control. In the ten minutes after half-time, we let them into the game and they scored two tries.

“On the whole, I’m pretty pleased with everything that we’ve done. Its tough to take but I feel we’re on the right track to achieving something special, but along the way we’ve got a lot to learn.”

Scotland coach Gregor Townsend said: “I thought the first 35 minutes was some of the best rugby we’ve played all year.

“That was above expectations given it was a new team, a new 10 and new 12. The disappointment is what happened in the 10-15 minutes after that.

“Yes you want to see that long-term development and see the team improving but you come here to win games, and we went from a position where we felt we could kick on and win that game to one where the game went away from us.”