Inside: Ireland’s World Cup hopes rest on Captain Sexton
Schmidt needs ‘competitive and combative’ out-half now more than ever
OF THE 620 players currently playing at this World Cup, none is more important to his team than Johnny Sexton.
You could make a case that England would struggle without Owen Farrell, while New Zealand need Beauden Barrett, but for this Ireland team it is increasingly apparent that their fate is wedded to the form and fitness of the 34-year-old, reigning World Player of the Year.
By naming his leading man as captain for tomorrow’s clash with Russia, Joe Schmidt played his part in building a redemption story around him.
He could have picked Peter O’Mahony, as he did in Australia in 2018, but instead he’s handed the key leadership role to the man who has played the biggest role in his teams’ successes since he came to Ireland.
This is as much the Johnny Sexton era as it is the Joe Schmidt era and, as the coach heads to the exit doors in the coming weeks, his legacy will be defined by Sexton’s ability to produce.
It’s only a game against lowly Russia, but the nation will tune in looking for signs that Saturday’s malaise was an aberration, that this team can achieve something special in the coming weeks.
Belief
Hope back home is at a low ebb, but within the four walls of Ireland’s team hotel there remains a belief that this team can achieve something here.
It is hard to imagine them winning the competition outright from this position, but could they rise to the occasion in a quarter-final? It is not beyond the bounds of possibility.
To make it happen, they need Sexton at the helm.
Above all others, he is the team’s personality, their conscience and their decision-maker.
Jack Carty did not play badly last weekend, but he can’t be asked to become Sexton on his first competitive start.
Instead, Sexton’s absence exposed his fellow leaders who have perhaps been guilty of leaning too heavily on their out-half. In his absence, the void wasn’t filled.
Part of the reason for Ireland’s Six Nations fall-off was that Sexton’s standards fell from the lofty heights of a year ago.
Since he moved to France in 2013, the Dubliner has been in a non-stop battle with his body. Only when he retires will we learn the full extent of that struggle.
Having put one foot in the quarter-finals by beating Scotland, Schmidt decided not to risk Sexton against Japan.
In terms of the result, the gamble failed but the coach felt he was playing with house money. Losing to the hosts was disappointing and a major setback, but it wasn’t worth the risk of Sexton re-injuring his quad.
They would beat Russia without him, but his calming presence will help steady the ship.
With Carty and Joey Carbery on the bench, he’s there to get the job done and cash out with 50-odd minutes banked. They have a nine-day turnaround for Samoa and then a week or eight days to a quarter-final depending on where they finish.
That’s all well and good until an enthusiastic Russian gets stuck in. The coach knows that’s the danger, but the upside clearly outweighs that risk. Ireland need their talisman on the pitch more than ever.
“The good thing for me is I’ve worked with Johnny for probably 10 years so I’d like to think I know him pretty well and I know how competitive and combative he is,” Schmidt said.
“Sometimes I watch him in play and he’s getting stuck into counter-rucks and I’m saying, ‘just get the hell out of there, Johnny, and leave some of the big boys do that’.
“But he’s no shrinking violet, sort of lightweight himself.
“I think his ability to control a game, to see a game a little bit ahead of where it’s happening, I think that’s a massive strength.
“Now, he brings that without being captain but I do think it’s something where we want to have a really competitive and combative approach this week and I think Johnny is ideal to lead that because of the character he is, let alone the qualities as far as his game management and the individual skill that allows other people get into the game.
“Those things combined give me the
‘He’s getting stuck into counter-rucks and I’m saying, ‘just get the hell out of there!’
confidence to do that. We’ve got some really good leadership around the team as well – Peter O’Mahony and Rhys Ruddock have both captained Ireland so they’ll look after the pack for a fair degree of the time.
“And we’ve got other leaders like Rob Kearney at the back, Keith Earls on the edge and Garry Ringrose.
“So we feel like we’re really well covered with support for Johnny in what is a real honour but it’s an honour that people have had to work a long time for and work very hard for and I think it’s a deserved honour.”
It seems incredible that Sexton has never captained his country from the start of a game before.
Although it hasn’t always gone smoothly, he’s embraced the armband at Leinster and appears to relish the responsibility.
“It doesn’t change what I do really,” he said yesterday. “The only added responsibility is conversing with the ref really... that’s the only extra responsibility, nothing else really changes for me in terms of leading the team.
“It’s just the honour. It’s a massive thing for me. It’s something I don’t take lightly. It’s something that has taken a while to get asked to do and it felt very nice this morning when Joe had a chat with me.”
The responsibility seemed to sit easy with him and that should be no surprise.
He’s been the de facto leader and has become the captain in the team’s time of need. For the umpteenth time, the nation turns to Sexton and hopes his body plays ball.