No point in quenching Sexton’s fire – Contepomi
Leinster backs coach insists their captain is growing into role despite Thomond tangles
HE WAS the dominant force of 2018 and it is no surprise that Johnny Sexton continues to hog the headlines into the new year.
After a month reliving his annus
mirabilis on the awards circuit, the World Rugby Player of the Year went from the people’s champion to the villain of the piece at Thomond Park on Saturday.
Whether it was his early entanglement with Fineen Wycherley, his running verbals with Joey Carbery or his interactions with referee Frank Murphy, the Ireland star was at the heart of the action and has come in for criticism for losing his cool and not leading by example.
That criticism conveniently ignores the out-half’s role in Leinster’s third-quarter revival and had Leo Cullen opted not to carry out his pre-planned withdrawal on the hour-mark there is every chance he might have guided his team to a famous win.
Sexton is always centre of attention whenever he plays and the captaincy has only served to heighten the glare.
His predecessor in the Leinster No 10 shirt, Felipe Contepomi, was another who sometimes let the emotion get the better of him – particularly against Munster – and it was convenient that he was up for media duties at UCD yesterday. And he believes Sexton should learn from the experience without changing too much about his approach.
“It’s his first year as captain here in Leinster, he knows he’s a leader inside the team,” the former Argentina star (below) said.
“He’s a key player; maybe he’s learning also his way of being a captain and how to deal with different situations.
“I think it’s more the perception someone can have outside, someone can say “oh, Johnny...’ and put everything on someone’s shoulder. “We were indisciplined, the most frustrating part for me is that indiscipline, technically, because we had the moments to win the game, and we couldn’t deal with them, well, we dealt wrongly. “Then, definitely Johnny has to take the learning points, the whole team has to take learning points on how to deal with when you’re taken into that moment of heat and you just have to keep your head calm. It’s about learning.” Sexton’s competitive drive is part of what makes him great and Contepomi warned against trying to tame that spirit.
“That personality made him the best player in the world as well, so you can take it or leave it, you know? I’d rather take it,” he said.
“It’s something that he has to learn, for me, and try to control and that will make him even better, and maybe the best player next year and the following year.
“But it’s hard because we’re judging him on results, OK? And if we would have got the right technical detail and won that game, we would have said, ‘Oh how good was Johnny, he stood up’ or, ‘What a great leader’.
“And it’s very hard, I don’t like judging on results, I’d rather take the learning.
“Definitely he has things to improve on, he’s human, but it’s not about him himself, it’s all about the team. The whole team had moments where we have to improve. He wasn’t sent off.
“It’s not that I want to put the blame on Cian (Healy) or Tadhg (Furlong), we all made errors and that ill discipline harmed the whole team.
“But in terms of Johnny’s personality, well, that personality makes him the best player in the world.”
Contepomi wants the team to take collective responsibility for their third defeat of the season, one that saw them pick up two yellow cards and a red after receiving just one yellow in the 15 previous games.
“In fairness, Leinster has a very good, strong group of leaders,” the coach said. “We need more from everyone. In a team sport, definitely, the leaders are very important and that is a big part of a team when you have good leadership. Things flow easier.
“It’s about the 15 players, not just about one, two or three. The beauty of being in a team sport is that you are one of many and you have to play your part and make sure you are contributing. We will take it as a learning.
“The indiscipline was bad in terms of the yellow cards and the red card. Things happen, what frustrates me more is that type of discipline is more a technical issue.
“That passion brought us to a moment where we can still win the game. We had some critical moments of losing a lineout 7-8m from the Munster tryline when we were 16-10 behind.
“Those are the moments that we need to nail or get right. Personally, I feel very proud of the guys for the way they played. It is tough because we were indisciplined and it cost us. That’s true.”
One player who continued to build on his burgeoning reputation at Thomond Park was James Ryan who was again outstanding.
However, former Ireland captain Brian O’Driscoll has raised concerns over whether the Ireland lock can sustain his performances given the physical toll they take on his young body.
“Can James Ryan carry like he does for 10/12 years?” O’Driscoll asked on Twitter. “I’m not sure. The punishment he takes. His ability to make 2/3 yards when he has no right to is unrivalled (well, maybe with the possible exception of CJ).”
Contepomi believes Ryan is conditioned
‘The beauty of a team sport is that you are one of many and you have to play your part’
for the job at hand.
“Well, he’s prepared for that,” he said. “The way he plays and how he is fitness wise, he’s definitely prepared for that. I hope he can do it for 10, 12, 15 years.
“One good thing of Irish rugby is that they look after the players, so there’s good communication between the national side and the provinces.
“So, you know how exactly how many minutes he will play and definitely there’s one place where he can do that is here in Ireland. And hopefully he will do that.”
Leinster could welcome Rob Kearney, Jack McGrath and Barry Daly back for Saturday’s clash with Ulster at the RDS.