JOHNNY IS JOE’S FIRST OFFICER
Schmidt dedication to ruthlessness is enforced by Sexton
ASKED about the relationship between Johnny Sexton and Joe Schmidt, Richie Murphy smiled and answered, ‘father and son’.
His team-mates like to tease Sexton about his closeness to Schmidt.
When the then-Clermont assistant coach was being lined up for the Leinster job, he met a deputation of senior players in a south Dublin hotel.
Included in their number was Sexton.
There is no player in the Irish squad who is under any misapprehension about who is in charge: Schmidt is the boss.
But if Rory Best is the captain, Sexton is the inspiration in this side.
And there is no relationship in Irish rugby more important than the one between him and the head coach.
That is why Murphy was pressed on it.
‘I actually think they’re quite different,’ he said, struggling to add more — or reluctant to do so.
‘I don’t know what you want me to say. They’re just different people.
‘They’re both very passionate about the game. They’re extremely intelligent guys and very savvy in relation to their rugby brains. They work together to find situations they can exploit. But I wouldn’t say they’re very alike.’
Murphy should know. He has known Sexton since the Leinster academy days, and as kicking coach he has worked closely with him for a decade.
Sexton occasionally consulted Dave Alred, the kicking technician closely associated with Jonny Wilkinson, and Schmidt asked him to include Murphy in those sessions.
The coach conceded yesterday that Sexton was managing a problem with one of his glute muscles last week. The player had received a knee in the backside during the Wales game that caused the problem, but the camp was adamant that he is now training freely.
Sexton had a mixed afternoon against Scotland, missing touch with a penalty, but terrific on other occasions.
Saturday sees him pitch up against Owen Farrell. They played alongside each other to telling effect in the second and third Lions Tests last summer, and got on famously within camp.
Intensity is a shared trait, and the Irish camp are respectful of Farrell’s talents — and not just because his father is their defence coach.
But the comfort afforded by Sexton’s experience is obvious.
‘I think he always had a good understanding of the game,’ says Murphy, ‘but I think what he has now is, there are very few things that happen in a game that he hasn’t seen before.’
As an illustration of his importance, thanks to talent and temperament, the winning drop goal in Paris is a perfect if dramatic example.
It’s more complicated in England. Farrell is playing at inside centre [as he did when Sexton took the No10 shirt after the first Lions Test] with George Ford at out-half.
Ford is talented but more willowy than Farrell or Sexton. They are physically big men, and they both relish physical contact.
The debate around the English team is centring on the position of Ford; there is a body of opinion, growing daily, that argues he should be dropped, with Farrell moved to No10 and Ben Te’o shifting in to the No12 jersey.
It has been a long, long time since there was uncertainty about who should be the Ireland out-half.
‘Johnny is a class player,’ says Murphy. ‘Owen Farrell is a class player as well; he is right at the top of the game but I think Johnny sees things so well
‘He has been around for quite a time now, his understanding of the game and his ability to organise players is second to none so I had no doubt that he would feature in those Lions Tests and we had no doubt that when he came back to Ireland he would help bring us forward, and that is the situation we have been in.’
The days immediately after their loss in Paris saw the English team and their coach subjected to intense criticism.
A kind of resignation has settled over them in the past 24 hours, and the people who report on their trials and tribulations say that interest levels have dipped after successive defeats.
There were some English journalists in attendance at yesterday’s press briefing, and their interest was in the Irish attitude to Farrell, and the 10-12 debate.
‘I think the two of them are class players,’ said Murphy, giving precisely nothing away. ‘They give England an ability to pick teams apart with having the two players playing off each other.’
The concept of playing two playmakers is one that has always been popular in the southern hemisphere, and especially in Australia, whose best teams have featured an inside centre who was effectively another out half.
Ireland pursue a different way, preferring power in the centre. However, the return of Garry Ringrose means they have the option of using his subtler talents, as they did on occasion against Scotland.
The most vivid example was in Jacob Stockdale’s second try before half time.
Ringrose complemented the power of Bundee Aki, while looking himself like a man who has been putting in long hours at the gym.
More encouraging still, the pair dovetailed with Sexton, and the three of them will be responsible for any unexpected moves thrown at England on Saturday.
But at the heart of it all will be Sexton, Schmidt’s representative on the field, and the representation of his coach’s commitment to precision and ruthlessness.
Could Sexton play for New Zealand, someone asked Murphy.
‘I think Johnny could fit into any team,’ he replied.
And there was no equivocation, no doubt, no playing it safe.
It’s obvious.
“They’re both
passionate and savvy in their
rugby brains”