Sexton warns Ireland cannot ‘peak’ with win over mighty All Blacks
JOHNNY SEXTON believes Ireland’s statement victory over New Zealand yesterday provides a ‘lift to the country’ — but insists it cannot be the peak of the team’s achievements.
A raucous Dublin crowd were treated to the best display of the Andy Farrell era as the dominant Irish brushed aside the world’s top-ranked side.
Tries from native Kiwi James Lowe, Ronan Kelleher and Caelan Doris laid the foundations for Ireland’s third victory over the All Blacks in the past five meetings, with Joey Carbery adding three crucial late penalties. The Irish failed to build on those previous successes, suffering a crushing World Cup quarter-final defeat at New Zealand’s hands in 2019.
Captain Sexton, who added five points with his boot before being replaced by Carbery due to a twisted knee, wants the latest headline-grabbing triumph to be a springboard for the future.
‘We’ve already identified that this is the start of a two-year journey,’ said the fly-half. ‘It’s important that we continually improve. This being a peak is no good to anybody. There’s lot of room for improvement.
‘We have a lot of young guys and they need to realise this is still the start and we need to keep building.
‘The great thing about beating New Zealand is that it gives a lift to the country but you don’t win a trophy. As happy as we are, we need to push on.’
Ireland’s preparations to face the three-time world champions included the disruption of additional PCR testing on Friday following a potential case of Covid for an unnamed player.
Farrell’s men shrugged off the Covid episode as they flew out of the blocks in front of the stadium’s first capacity crowd for a rugby match in almost two years.
But, following Lowe’s early score, they somehow trailed 10-5 at the break after failing to
capitalise on their superiority. Despite the deficit, head coach Farrell remained optimistic his side would find a clinical edge in the second period.
‘We weren’t frustrated in the sense that we knew from the players that when we were at our best, we were causing them trouble,’ said Farrell.
‘We talked about just being calm and sticking to the process. There are all sorts of things that can go through your mind regarding thinking too far ahead and winning.’
New Zealand hooker Codie Taylor returned from the sin bin to score a first-half breakaway try for the visitors, while 10 points from Jordie Barrett’s boot and a Will Jordan score kept them in contention until the end.
Ian Foster said Ireland’s performance was the best he had faced as New Zealand head coach.
‘Congratulations to Ireland, they deserved their win,’ he said.
The below-par All Blacks threatened to snatch victory but, trailing 23-17 with 11 minutes to go, Akira Ioane’s try was disallowed for a forward pass.