It’s joy of Sex as thrusting Ireland smash Dragons
JOHNNY SEXTON hailed Ireland’s best performance since their All Blacks win in
2018 – and set his sights on storming Twickenham in a fortnight’s time.
The skipper was delighted after helping the men in green see off Grand Slam champions Wales with the
24-14 victory that keeps their own Triple Crown and Grand Slam hopes alive.
Tries by full-back Jordan Larmour, prop Tadhg Furlong, flanker Josh Van Der Flier and wing Andrew Conway, plus two conversions from Sexton, saw the hosts win comfortably.
And the influential outside half admitted it was the most enjoyable Test performance he’s been a part of in almost
18 months.
He said: “It was brilliant. It had a bit of everything.
“It had some of the stuff that we didn’t get to show against Scotland.
“When you get the ball in our back three’s hands, something can happen.
“They showed that. They stuck to the tactics. Some of our shape stuff we’ve been working on was great.
“And we won, that’s the most important thing.
“We’re building momentum now but obviously our biggest challenge is in a couple of weeks time.”
England’s
Six Nations demolition in Dublin last year preceded a Twickenham tanking by the hosts in the World Cup warm-ups.
“Wales are
World Cup semi-finalists and Grand Slam champions for a reason,” said Sexton.
“They’re a top-quality team and hard to play against.
“We’re going to have to be up there like we were today at
Twickenham. It’s away from home against World Cup finalists and they’ll be hurting.
“But they’re a top-quality side and the last two times we’ve played England they’ve given us a right old spanking.
“So we need to up our game from those levels of performances.
“It’s a tough place to go, we haven’t had too many victories over the years and it’ll be no different now coming into this game.”
Ireland boss Andy Farrell was satisfied with the deserved bonus-point win and expects Robbie Henshaw – who impressed before having to stay off after a head injury assessment – to be fit to face England.
He said: “We’re in a great place. We said it wasn’t the brilliant performance that we were all looking for last week, but we had a great week’s preparation and good, honest feedback from the boys and we saw an improved performance.
“But we know there’s still plenty more in us.”
Wales crossed the line twice through Tomos Williams and Justin Tipuric, while Dan Biggar and Leigh Halfpenny added the extras. Captain Alun Wyn Jones admitted it was tough to take positives from a game which ended in defeat.
He said “Ultimately Test rugby is about winning, isn’t it? You can have all the enterprise and all the beauty you like but ultimately it’s about the result.
“I think we probably gave them an opportunity in the first half, a couple of errors in particular, a couple of rucks potentially at crucial times.”
FRANCE coach Fabien Galthie says his side must be consistent if they are to challenge for the Six Nations crown. Les Bleus host Italy in Paris today a week after beating England in their opener in the French capital. Galthie said: “For us the key is consistency. The main theme of the week was rebounding. We had to prepare for the game without wasting a minute.”
THE only people in Scotland sorry to see England head south of the border last night were the owners of the Balmoral Hotel.
The landmark Victorian lodging on Princes Street is regarded as the finest in Edinburgh and had been England’s sanctuary ahead of their Six Nations clash with their old rivals at Murrayfield.
But not even the Michelin-starred restaurant could persuade Eddie Jones and his men to honour their booking, leaving the Balmoral’s owner Sir Rocco Forte in danger of having to refund the RFU.
Jones didn’t want to hang around in the Scottish capital and decided to take his squad on the first flight back to London, with the Calcutta Cup sat in first class.
Storm Ciara had gripped the nation, forcing planes and trains scheduled to leave the country this morning to be cancelled.
No one can blame Jones for wanting to make good his escape. He has a history of bad blood with the Scots and was verbally abused by a boozed-up yob when he got off a train the day after losing the 2018 Calcutta Cup clash here.
He had travelled north this time with two bodyguards, which speaks volumes for how much he is disliked in these parts. Finding himself stuck behind