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Johnny Sexton must “stay positive” with referee Jerome Garces when captaining Ireland for the first time in Thursday’s World Cup clash with Russia, according to Andy Farrell.
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British and Irish Lions fly-half Sexton will become Ireland’s 106th Test captain when leading Joe Schmidt’s side against the Russians in Kobe.
Ireland must hit back to winning ways this week after their shock 19-12 loss to Japan to set their Pool A campaign back on on track.
Head coach Schmidt has made 11 changes from the line-up that lost out to the tournament hosts, in a bid to handle the five-day turnaround between matches.
So with regular skipper Rory Best rested Sexton takes the captaincy – and defence coach Farrell has backed the 34-year-old to stay calm when dealing with the officials.
'He’d obviously prefer to be playing at 10 but these are the days where you put the squad first'https://t.co/kFnWwV7vmj
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“Johnny cares so much; I think you’ve seen with his captaincy at Leinster that he’s learned from those situations, and it helps his game,” said Farrell.
“We talked about those conditions on Thursday night. Things will happen that aren’t going to plan and we need to stay positive with each other and the referee in the way that we play the game as well.
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“So Johnny is aware of all that.”
Ireland came out on the wrong side of referee Angus Gardner in Saturday’s shock defeat by the Brave Blossoms.
Boss Schmidt has since suggested Ireland must handle the officials with more of a kid-glove approach, and Farrell has every confidence in Sexton to lead that style.
Sexton’s fiery on-field persona has often seen him fall foul of referees in the past, but Farrell believes he has already adapted that element.
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— Rugby World Cup (@rugbyworldcup) October 1, 2019
Peter O’Mahony has captained Ireland in the past and will start against Russia in the back-row, with Farrell insisting there was precious little to choose between Sexton and the Munster flanker when selecting Thursday’s captain.
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Asked why Sexton had been given the captaincy nod ahead of O’Mahony, Farrell said: “Well it’s always been a toss of a coin with those two because they’re so influential on the team and such good professionals and with the experience they’ve both got.
“Johnny has been great within camp the whole pre-season, he’s right on song and he’s determined to put his feelings across to the team.
“His calmness of how to deal with these situations is going to be crucial in the next two weeks.”
Watch: Andy Farrell press conference
Comments on RugbyPass
I guess we may all agree on the fact, that the ABs and Boks are the two in contest for No 1 in rugby history (the triple-A sort of) …. the Wallabies, England and France are the next tier, with Ireland being the new kid in town (AA) …. in my view it makes little sense creating imaginary competitions (unless you have too much time to waste)
43 Go to commentsWhat a joke. Total joke and the pundits commentating, all of whom know a bit about the game, could barely disguise their contempt. Reaching for the card then pulling back when he realised a red card would carry further match suspensions is simply not his decision to make. A clear and obvious influence on the outcome of this match and indeed, the championship path.
3 Go to commentsI like the idea, in NZ the Ranfurly Shield and NPC coexist, both having their own bragging rights. The World Cup would be the pinnacle, but the competition and travels of these trophies would be interesting.
43 Go to commentsDon’t worry Sonny bill Williams leave that awkward situation about the curfew in the pass whoever it was it doesn’t matter its no big deal we back our All Blacks through the storm and the thunder until we see the Sun light again.
42 Go to commentsWho listens to this retard? He was a massive liability as a player but obviously a media sensation
42 Go to commentsI’m not surprised by such ‘virtue signalling’ by Sonny Boy. Butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth. He’s such a pious Islamic muppet, imo.
42 Go to commentsI’ve actually never heard of the guy (then I don’t watch League as it is boring). But if he is good enough.. then good luck to him. If not, well, he can always return to league.
2 Go to commentsIt is pretty clear that by almost any measure that NZ are a more successful rugby nation than South Africa. Quite aside from the distasteful events during the last RWC final. NZ lead SA in all significant measurements.
43 Go to commentsDickson went to his pocket for a card, saw who it was, changed his mind and spoke at length to TMO. One angle clearly shows Care diving over a Saints player to kill the ball. 1st yellow, reason given for not Red was player was falling backwards. He was only falling backwards after contact with Lawes. Graham try should have stood. Mitchell did not have both hands on the ball, ball went forward from a Saints boot dragging over it. 2 intentional knock-on's. One of which had an overlap on the outside. If Quins are happy to win by intentional foul play, then it does not say much for them. Would appear to be a bad day for Karl Dickson, also for the RFU in appointing a Ref who spent 8 years as a player at one of the clubs.
3 Go to commentsLet’s not forget about Ardie Savea just yet.
6 Go to commentsThe URC and the Euro Championscup can’t run at the same time, basically dilutes both competitions.
2 Go to comments“While Sotutu should start at No.8 for the All Blacks against England, but it’s only in that arena that he can prove just how good he really is.” And that my friends is where simply hasnt shone despite multiple opportunities. Even in this performance you can see what did him in in the test arena..he almost always still runs at the opposition almost ramrod upright making him easier to stop than it should be.
6 Go to commentsShould have been 0-0 and a message from SR CEO to both teams - “don’t worry about turning up next year”.
4 Go to commentsGreat work Owen Franks. A great of this team, scoring his first try for the Crusaders since 2010.He was beaming, justifiably. A fine win, he and the rest did the job up front.
1 Go to commentsDanny Care. Lang in die tand.
1 Go to commentsBig empty stadium does nothing for atmosphere but munster are playing well with solid performance
1 Go to commentsYes, Fiji can win the World Cup! With that belief plus their christian faith🙏 and hard work it is achievable. Great article. Ian Duncan Fiji resident 1981-84
2 Go to commentsInteresting comments about Touch. England’s hosting the Touch World Cup this year and the numbers have exploded since their last World Cup in 2019, something like 70% more teams and 40 nations taking part. And England Touch have made a big thing about how many universities are in their BUCS University Touch Championship as well as Sport England membership. Can only see this growing even more domestically as more people become aware of it
10 Go to comments“Cortez Ratima is light years ahead of anyone on current form, while TJ Perenara has also skyrocketed into contention following the unfortunate injury to the talented Cam Roigard.” At last some sanity. Hitherto so many pundits have been wittering on about Finlay Christie to the point one wondered if they were observing a FC in a parallel universe where the FC they saw wasnt just the mediocre Shayne Philpott project of Fosters hapless AB reign in the real world. Ratima, Perenara and Fakatava are the ONLY logical 9s for Razor now Roigard is crocked.
4 Go to commentsThis game was just as painful as the Hurricanes game. It was real fork-in-the-eye stuff.
4 Go to comments