Sexton triumphs in clash of the captains
Ireland’s new leader made his presence felt against Wales, writes Oliver Brown at the Aviva Stadium
No sooner does Johnny Sexton assume the mantle of Ireland captain than he tries his hand at being the referee, too. As a mirror of his team’s glorious defiance against Wales, he was never more convincing than when standing in the face of Romain Poite, demanding clarification from the French official about the maul laws. For every marginal call, he would fight his players’ corner, unabashed about applauding manically when decisions went in their favour. Throughout his decade wearing the green jersey, Sexton has proved his mastery of the fly-half ’s craft. In this Six Nations, he is also bearing the hallmarks of a leader.
There was a general election in Ireland yesterday, with candidates’ posters festooning the approaches to the Aviva Stadium. Sexton needs no public poll to affirm his popularity: he has long been the most recognised, most scrutinised sportsman in the land, at least until Conor McGregor came along. His drop goal in 2018 to seize a Grand Slam in Paris, at the culmination of 41 phases, was Irish sport’s equivalent of a work of
Renaissance art. Now, as part of Andy Farrell’s revolution, he has finally received the reward of the captaincy.
From the first whistle here, one could see what it meant to him. Not even a hideous first conversion attempt, which flew closer to the River Liffey than the posts, could put him off. Sexton was harrying, hectoring, driving Poite almost to distraction. “That’s enough!” the Frenchman shouted at him, when he agitated for a forward pass to be spotted in the build-up to Wales’s first try.
Sexton has quite a history, all told, of challenging authority. After his Leinster side lost at Munster in 2018, he became the crowd’s pantomime villain for his chippy exchanges with referee Frank Murphy. He has acknowledged that his greatest flaw on the field was this tendency to appear too belligerent when dealing with officialdom. Ironically, he has also identified the model exponent in this department as Alun Wyn Jones.
But this was one day when Sexton won the clash of the captains, embodying Ireland’s cussedness at every turn. Of course, there is still a trick or two he could learn from his wizened Welsh counterpart. When Ireland’s president, Michael D Higgins, was introduced to the two teams before kick-off, Jones made a point of flicking up Hadleigh Parkes’s collar, like an irked father trying to make his son more presentable for school.
Sometimes, looking the part can be as important as playing it.
There is little doubt that Sexton was born for his latest calling. Even while at Leinster’s academy, he had the cocksure attitude to upbraid Brian O’Driscoll for a misdirected pass.
The greats of the Irish game have been unanimous in acclaiming his credentials as captain. Sexton has been keen to learn, too, putting in a call to Paul O’Connell as soon as Farrell confirmed his elevation. One of the lessons, he reflected recently, was to ensure that referees did not misinterpret his assertive body language as aggression. On the evidence of his sniping at Poite, it is one he has yet to heed.
Still, Sexton can be as antagonistic as he likes if Ireland keep performing as fluently as this. While he was withdrawn late on with a knock to the head, a worrying sight for a player with his history of concussions, his team-mates had long since done the damage. CJ Stander was forcing crucial turnovers, while Tadhg Furlong, the Wexford cannonball, was charging through Wales’s creaking defence like a baby hippo. Coupled with the running of the back three, it was enough to make anyone believe that Ireland are favourites for a fourth Six Nations title in seven years.
This, Sexton knew, was the potential title decider. Sam Warburton used to say that there was always a little extra piquancy to Wales’s encounters with Ireland, and this was an occasion to show why.
As Storm Ciara prepared to do her worst, Wales walked straight into the teeth of a Dublin maelstrom. “When you get the ball into the hands of our back three, something always happens,” Sexton smiled. “I’m unbelievably proud of these players.”
The moment that Farrell replaced Joe Schmidt as head coach, he called for an end to the Irish weakness for paralysis by analysis, urging his players to trust their instincts. “It’s about our team, about backing ourselves,” he said. Sexton’s decisive leadership is perhaps the starkest illustration that Ireland are embracing that credo.