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Sexton and Farrell try to clear the air after messy fallout from Saturday night's infamous substitution
Johnny Sexton and Andy Farrell have moved to draw a line under last Saturday’s substitution controversy in France, Ireland skipper Sexton revealing he apologised on Sunday for his withering reaction while coach Farrell insisted his player’s conduct didn’t undermine him as head coach.
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Ireland’s title-ending defeat to the French had gotten lost in recent days due to the huge commentary on the captain-coach incident. Sexton has been roundly criticised for how he angrily looked up towards the coaches box after he was taken off at the Stade de France with ten minutes remaining.
Former Ireland captains Brian O’Driscoll and Keith Wood, along with ex-coach Eddie O’Sullivan, said it wasn’t a good look for Sexton and the current skipper took steps to try and put the controversy to bed on Thursday, appearing at a virtual media conference along with Farrell to insist the air has been cleared ahead of the Autumn Nations Cup campaign.
Farrell initially said his piece separate to Sexton, suggesting what had happened had not undermined him as Ireland coach. Then Sexton came to the pulpit and gave his updated take on the fallout of a messy situation.
“Yeah, disappointed in myself with the reaction to a certain extent,” said Sexton. “Obviously if I had known the stories it was going to create and the way that it has been perceived I wouldn’t have done it.
"He should apologise to Farrell."https://t.co/LfZloxUfA7
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 5, 2020
“But you have to take it from my point of view – it’s in the heat of the moment, it’s up there with the biggest games I have played in as captain and yeah, it’s a low point. I reacted in a bad way for a split second and that’s it’s really. That’s all I can say really.
“I spoke to Andy after the game, I spoke to him on Sunday when I realised there was such a big thing and we sorted things out. I apologised and said look it shouldn’t have happened but it did. It was a split second and I let myself down in that regard.
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“You learn and you move on. I suppose it’s not the first apology I have made in my career and it won’t be the last probably. We’ll move on. Thankfully we have got a good relationship and there are no problems going forward.
“If someone said you are on the big screen, you’re not going to do it,” he continued. “Yeah, if I had time to think about it I wouldn’t have done it but you’re in the heat of battle, you’re playing an international, it means a lot to you, you’re captain of the team and you’re disappointed in the performance as much as anything.
“Ultimately the team’s performance is down to, I have got to make sure the lads are in a better place to do what they are meant to do. There is as much disappointment in the situation as there is in the substitution.
“The other thing as well, I need to dead bat it and just walk off. I am who I am and like I said, I have apologised to the people that matter but I’m not going to sit here and sort of apologise to the whole world. It was a split second thing, a split-second decision I wish I didn’t make but I did.
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“I love being captain. It’s a huge honour. When Andy asked me to do it, it was one of the biggest honours in my career, the biggest probably, and I’m incredibly proud to do it. I am trying to get better in the role…
“I have reacted worse coming off before when I was not captain at the time. Is it okay for players to do that? No, it’s not okay for players to do that but at the same time, it’s a split reaction, a one-second thing. Normally the cameras go the player that comes on not the player that comes off but my French ‘friends’ wanted to gather my reaction.”
Earlier, Farrell had said his piece on the controversy that has dominated Irish rugby since the weekend. “No, I don’t (think it undermined me). Johnny is a passionate guy and it’s the reason we all love him as a player for how long he has been at the top of the Irish game.
“I suppose there is always a bit of learning from every game that you play but no, I don’t feel undermined and neither do the team. We need Johnny to be himself… you are not going to change overnight a person that has been at the top doing what he has done because of the intent and the attitude that he has got.
“Me and Johnny are always talking. We speak most days and it’s always something that is ongoing. We have conversations constantly to see where we both are. Do I feel like I need to talk to him? We always have discussions. We spoke quite a number of times before today (Thursday). In fact, the last time was five minutes ago. We constantly talk about how things are going with the group.
“Of course, we always discuss everything that goes on. We’re discussing his individual game and his captaincy etc, so we are always learning together. 100 per cent (it has been overblown). The last thing that I want to do to Johnny is stop him being himself as well or else we all suffer, don’t we?”
3??changes from the 34 initially chosen on October 14 https://t.co/1G7oW1wWUe
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 5, 2020
Comments on RugbyPass
He was in such great form. Sad for him but only a short term injury and it will be great to see him back for the finals.
1 Go to commentsAfter their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
34 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to comments