BRILLIANT WORLD CHAMPS SICKEN JOHNNY

Sexton admits the All Blacks intensity caused him to vomit

Chelsea Bournemouth Stamford Bridge, 7.45pm Everton Leicester City Goodison Park, 7.45pm Newcastle Burnley

St James Park, 7.45pm Southampton Brighton St James Park, 7.45pm

v v v v

Man City West Brom The Etihad Stadium, 8pm Stoke City Watford Bet365 Stadium, 8pm Tottenham Man Utd Wembley Stadium, 8pm

v THE All Blacks are the only team to make Johnny Sexton sick.

Literally.

Sexton’s first game for Ireland against New Zealand took place in 2010 in the newly developed Aviva Stadium but it was a wake-up call as to the level the All Blacks were at.

“I vomited at half-time,” recalled the 33-year-old yesterday. “It never really happened before.

“It was just a crazy, incredible pace. Every collision was ferocious and was like the first v v one of the game. They might have scored just before half-time but it was pretty close at the start.

“It was an eye-opener, one that you kind of think, ‘Wow, these guys are .... ’.

“But our levels of fitness and preparation have gone up a lot since then.”

The hosts lost that evening, the latest in a long line of disappointments against the All Blacks, but things have improved greatly from an Irish perspective.

The teams will clash again on November 17 in their first encounter since the two November Tests in 2016. In the first, in Chicago, Ireland made history by beating their illustrious rivals for the first time.

But there was a savage edge to the world champions a fortnight later in Dublin as they gained their revenge.

“It hasn’t changed too much, I don’t think,” said Sexton, reflecting on the nature of the challenge. “Before you play them you know it’s going to be the toughest game of the season.

“It’s a great challenge. A lot of us now have beaten them and we want to do it again.

“But we’ve never beaten them in Ireland so it would be pretty special to be on the first Ireland team to beat them here.

“We need to concentrate on the first games against Italy and Argentina but, at the same time, it’s going to be a pretty special occasion.”

Interestingly, Sexton has only swapped shirts with an All Black once in 11 Tests – eight for Ireland and three with the Lions.

He revealed: “There were a few things where they refused to swap jerseys for different reasons.

“I never really wanted to put myself in that situation where you walk in and say something stupid