Sexton's stark warning for Ireland after latest victory over All Blacks
Johnny Sexton believes Ireland’s statement victory over New Zealand 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 to win 29-20.
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.
Ireland failed to build on those previous successes when it mattered, suffering a crushing World Cup quarter-final defeat at New Zealand’s hands in 2019.
Captain Sexton, who added five points with his boot on Saturday 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 and we’ve said that,” said the fly-half.
“This is the start and it’s important that we continually improve.
PLAYER RATINGS: Incredible effort from Ireland with some new heroes emerging ?#Ireland #IREvNZR #AutumnNationsSeries #AllBlacks
https://t.co/71rzsBAAI4— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 13, 2021
“Obviously, this being a peak is no good to anybody. There’s lot of room for improvement – we need to keep our feet on the ground and keep driving this.
“There’s a lot of young guys, very young, a lot younger than me, and they need to realise that this is still a 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 and you don’t have something to show for it, as such.
“As happy as we are, we need to push on.”
What is rare is wonderful in sport but what is becoming increasingly familiar can be just as magical as was proven with Ireland beating the All Blacks for the third time in five meetings… #Ireland #IREvNZR #AutumnNationsSeries #AllBlackshttps://t.co/HZjRz6sJMY
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 13, 2021
Ireland’s preparations to face the three-time world champions included the disruption of undergoing additional PCR testing on Friday following a potential case of coronavirus for an unnamed player.
The hosts also received a supportive message from United States President Joe Biden, who has Irish ancestry.
Farrell’s men shrugged off the Covid episode and harnessed the spirit of Biden’s letter 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 half-time 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.
“The sense of confidence was there. We talked about just being calm and sticking to the process. There’s 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 the boot of Jordie Barrett 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 and had no complaints about the result.
“Congratulations to Ireland, they thoroughly deserved their win,” he said.
They've done it again ?? #AutumnNationsSeries #IREvNZL pic.twitter.com/T55ok8dDg1
— RugbyPass (@RugbyPass) November 13, 2021
“I was really impressed with them today, they played a high-tempo game, kept us chasing.
“When it really mattered at the end, we just didn’t quite have the composure to take the opportunity that we had presented to us.
“That was a very, very good performance and probably the best performance I’ve come up against in my time. I thought they were pretty polished.”
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 to the frustration of Foster.
“I thought Akiri’s was a great try but the TMO didn’t and that’s probably the story of the game,” he said.
Comments on RugbyPass
🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
26 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
1 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 Crusades , you can keep going.
1 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!😭😭😭 !!!
26 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
26 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.
26 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.
26 Go to commentsHaving overseas possessions in 2024 is absurd. These Frenchies should have to give the New Caledonians their freedom.
21 Go to commentsBell injured his foot didn’t he? Bring Tupou in he’ll deliver when it counts. Agree mostly but I would switch in the Reds number 8 Harry Wilson for Swinton and move Rob Valentini to 6 instead. Wilson is a clever player who reads the play, you can’t outmuscle the AB’s and Springboks, if you have any chance it’s by playing clever. Same goes for Paisami, he’s a little guy who doesn’t really trouble the likes of De Allende and Jordie Barrett. I’d rather play Carter Gordon at 12 and put Michael Lynagh’s boy at 10. That way you get a BMT type goalkicker at 10 and a playmaker at 12. Anyways, just my two cents as a Bok supporter.
14 Go to commentsThanks Brett, love your articles which are alway pertinent. It’s a difficult topic trying to have a panel adjudicating consistently penalties for red card issues. Many of the mitigating reasons raised are judged subjectively, hence the different outcomes. How to take away subjective opinions?
11 Go to comments