'Gutted' Sexton opens up about Ireland's coronavirus-hit Six Nations

Johnny Sexton has said that he is gutted Ireland’s Guinness Six Nations campaign is over for now. 

A number of games have been postponed in this year’s Championship, including Ireland’s fixture with Italy last weekend in Dublin and their visit to Paris to face the French this Saturday. This is due to fears of spreading the coronavirus. 

Players have remained fairly quiet about the disruption, partly as it is still up in the air as to what will happen with this year’s Six Nations, but also because the current crisis is obviously bigger than rugby. 

Ireland’s hopes of a Grand Slam were dashed by England at Twickenham in round three, a game that Irish skipper Sexton is the first to admit wasn’t his best. 

He said in a recent Instagram post: “Gutted the Six Nations is over for us for now… been a difficult couple of weeks thinking about my last performance. Was hoping to put it right in the last two games so very disappointed the games are postponed.”

https://www.instagram.com/p/B9nFUdolCKC/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

It must be a gruelling feeling for a player – and a team as a whole – to be deprived of the chance of righting any wrongs from the week before, something France have also been prevented from doing following their loss to Scotland last Sunday. 

However, Sexton still stressed this is the right decision, as sporting events across the world are now being postponed or played behind closed doors to prevent the spread of the virus. 

Ireland still have a chance of winning the Six Nations, but that will require a victory against both Italy and France, but Sexton may have to wait months before then. 

He nonetheless showed his appreciation for the support for the team throughout their campaign and has now switched his focus to his province Leinster, who are currently dominating the Guinness PRO14 and have a Heineken Champions Cup quarter-final in April against Saracens to prepare for.

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