Andy Farrell breaks silence over Ireland's Johnny Sexton dilemma
Ireland head coach Andy Farrell has challenged Johnny Sexton’s understudies to “knock him off his perch”.
Veteran captain Sexton has been a mainstay in his country’s number 10 jersey for more than a decade and is poised to win his 100th cap when Japan visit Dublin on Saturday afternoon.
Joey Carbery, who has been named among the replacements, and Harry Byrne are the alternative fly-halves in the current Irish squad, while Jack Carty and Billy Burns were overlooked for the autumn campaign.
Leinster player Sexton will be 38 by the time of the 2023 World Cup in France but Farrell insists he has no concerns about the experienced Leinster player still being first choice.
“It’s certainly not a worry,” Farrell said of competition for the role. “Johnny is a world-class player so why would I worry about that?
“Johnny isn’t just going to stand to the side and say, ‘there you go guys, off you go and take over now’.
“We want those guys and other 10s to challenge Johnny and knock him off his perch.
“You don’t want to just hand something over to someone that doesn’t deserve it. That’s not a squad.”
Sexton will become the seventh Irishman to reach a century of Ireland caps following Brian O’Driscoll, Ronan O’Gara, Rory Best, Cian Healy, Paul O’Connell and John Hayes.
He was rested for the summer Tests against Japan and the United States, allowing Munster’s Carbery to make his first national team appearances since the 2019 World Cup following a tough period of injury problems.
Connacht player Carty has not featured at international level for more than two years, while Leinster fly-half Byrne and Ulster’s Burns have made just two Test starts combined.
Farrell believes Carbery and Byrne are eager to develop at international level.
He said: “What do we want to see from Joey and Harry? We want to see them pushing Johnny.
“They love the honest feedback and that’s how we are with them.
“They want to know how they can improve and what they have to do to improve.
“A lot of the time at this level because of the speed and intensity of training, it’s the calmness of thought in that type of position.
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“Learning to deal with that, with the pressure of trying to understand how best you can get prepared in such a short space of time, it’s daunting enough.”
Farrell has named a strong starting XV for the weekend clash with the Brave Blossoms.
British and Irish Lions quartet Tadhg Furlong, Tadhg Beirne, Jack Conan and Bundee Aki are among those to return, while replacement hooker Dan Sheehan is the only potential debutant.
James Lowe has also been recalled after being dropped for the Guinness Six Nations finale against England in March and then missing out in the summer due to injury.
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Farrell has backed the New Zealand-born winger to prove his worth.
“I have been impressed with how he has gone about dealing with the tough time that he went through,” Farrell said of Lowe.
“He has had a good look at himself with regards to his preparation and I think it was a little bit of a shock for him first time up with the pressures and the scrutiny of international rugby.
“He has gone away, been very diligent and wanted to work on aspects of his game that we have asked him to, and there are improvements there.
“He gets his chance because of all that, to show us that he is the right man for the job. He is in great nick, he has lost a bit of weight, he has the bit between his teeth.”
Munster forward Gavin Coombes, who made his debut in the summer, was ruled out of the game due to a non-coronavirus illness.
Comments on RugbyPass
Wasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
3 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
3 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
30 Go to commentsJe suis sûr que Farrell est impatient de jouer avec Lopez et Machenaud et d’être entraîné par Collazo… 🤭
1 Go to commentsAn on field red (aka a full red) in SRP must surely carry a bigger suspension than a red card given by the bunker as that carries a 20 minute team punishment. Had Damon Murphy abdicated his responsibility as a ref and issued both Drua players a yellow, which would have been upgraded to a 20 minute red by the bunker, that would have killed Australia and New Zealand’s push for the 20 minute red to be trialled globally from July this year.
11 Go to commentsEver so often you all post a Danny Care story that isn’t the announcement that he has finally re-signed for one more, victory tour season at Quins and I’m just like, “well you fooled me again!” My absolute favorite player ever, we need to make his final year at the Stoop (and Twickers) official already. I know he supposedly snubbed France but I won’t feel better until he signs.
1 Go to commentslate hit what late hit it wasn’t at all late and can clearly see he was committed before the tackle
3 Go to commentsChristian Lio -Willies 2 try perfomance was a standout. As was captain Scott Barrett. Up front was where the boys won it.They are a great team and players. Fantastic Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 Go to commentsI don't know how the locals feel about that? I guess if you call yourselves the Worcester Wasps that might be appease. But really we need more teams in the Premiership in my view so they are not padding it out as they are at the moment. It might curtail so many players going abroad as well
5 Go to commentsNZ 😭😭😭is certainly rivaling England for best whingers cup!😭😭😭 !!!
30 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
30 Go to commentsShould've done this years ago. Change Saturday kick off times to around 11am. Up and off and back home before 3pm, limit travel time too. Allows players to actually do something else with their Saturday that's family oriented or being rugby fans they could ‘watch’ pro rugby. Increases crowds etc. How can anyone that enjoys grassroots and pro rugby have to choose between the two on Saturdays?
9 Go to commentsI bet he inspired those supporters just as much.
1 Go to commentsBen Smith Springboks living rent free in his head 😊😂
67 Go to commentsGood to hear he would like to play the game at the highest level, I hadn’t been to sure how much of a motivator that was before now. Sadly he’s probably chosen the rugby club to go to. Try not to worry about all the input about how you should play rugby Joey and just try to emulate what you do on the league field and have fun. You’ll limit your game too much (well not really because he’s a standard athlete like SBW and he’ll still have enough) if you’re trying to make sure you can recycle the ball back etc. On the other hard, you can totally just try and recycle by looking to offload any and everywhere if you’re going to ground 😋
1 Go to commentsThis just proves that theres always a stat and a metric to use to justify your abilities and your success. Ben did it last week by creating an imaginary competition and now you did the same to counter his argument and espouse a new yardstick for success. Why not just use the current one and lets say the Boks have won 4 world cups making them the most successful world cup team. Outside of the world cup the All Blacks are the most successful team winning countless rugby championships and dominating the rankings with high win percentages. Over the last 4 years statistically the Irish are the best having the highest win rate and also having positive records against every tier 1 side. The most successful Northern team in the game has been England with a world cup title and the most six nations titles in history. The AB’s are the most dominant team in history with the highest win rate and 3 world cups. Lets not try to reinvent the wheel. Just be honest about the actual stats and what each team has been good at doing and that will be enough to define their level of success.
30 Go to commentsHow is 7’s played there? I’m surprised 10 or 11 man rugby hasn’t taken off. 7 just doesn’t fit the 15s dynamics (rules n field etc) but these other versions do.
9 Go to commentsPick Swinton at your peril A liability just like JWH from the Roosters Skelton ??? went missing at RWC
14 Go to commentsLike tennis, who have a ranking system, and I believe rugby too, just measure over each period preceding a world cup event who was the longest number one and that would be it. In tennis the number one player frequently is not the grand slam winner. I love and adore the All Blacks since the days of Ian Kirkpatrick when I was a kid in SA. And still do because they are the masters of running rugby and are gentleman on and off the field - in general. And in my opinion they have been the majority of the time the best rugby team in the world.
30 Go to comments