BLOODY GOOD, SON
Sexton inspires Ireland to epic victory with a display of skill and courage
HERE we go. Two from two and the spring is opening up to a myriad of appetising possibilities. Perfect, save for Jamie Heaslip and the agony he was left in overnight following his malicious knee in the back from Pascal Papé.
Beating France means Ireland have won their opening two games for just the sixth time in 16 seasons.
And while no trophies followed in 2001, 2003 and 2005, early back-to-back wins led to titles in 2009 and last year. Time to dream.
Not that Joe Schmidt, Ireland’s smiling assassin, was keen on buying into any hype on foot of a nine-game unbeaten streak that even had the legendary Brian O’Driscoll tweeting that there is ‘a Grand Slam in this team and who knows
what else’. Instead, relief at an opportunity to come up for air before thinking about England in round three was all that the coach would volunteer. It followed a slugfest in which struggling France were battered into penalty submission before a late rally made it a closer contest than it actually was.
Away defeat meant France’s travel blues continued under Philippe Saint-André, just one successful road trip in the last dozen now, but the coach’s terminal misery was but a sideshow on a night when the state of Johnny Sexton’s head became the lead postmatch narrative.
He’s a brave boy, undoubtedly, but the capacity crowd fretted every time Mathieu Bastareaud ravenously headed down his channel, all pointy elbows and thick, squat head stuck out.
Having seen the IRFU get dragged into an messy eve-of-Test war of words regarding whether Sexton was genuinely good to go after his 12-week layoff, Schmidt went on the offensive. His out-half emerged from multiple run-ins with Bastareaud unscathed apart from stitches and a shiner.
‘We knew he was OK,’ said Schmidt. ‘He was off for blood. Our medical team did a HIA (head injury assessment) on him anyway as a precaution to make sure.’
Schmidt admitted he too was concerned about Sexton’s bravery.
‘You do worry because you know he isn’t going to back off, but he is a super competitor and that spread throughout the team.’