'They were showing all the young 10s in Ireland clips of him' - Johnny Sexton joins Dan Carter for wide-ranging interview
All Blacks legend Dan Carter says he sees lots of similarities in the way he and Johnny Sexton play the game. Ireland out-half Sexton was the latest guest on Carter’s Kickin’ It interview series on Instagram As well as discussing highlights from their careers, the two out-halves spoke about the similarities in how they both approach playing at 10.
“I think there are a lot of similarities to be honest,” Carter said.
“We love to control the game, so some of our specialities or parts of the game that are similar is that game management. We see space.
“We probably get just as much satisfaction setting up others players as we do potentially scoring tries ourself, even though the two of us don’t score that many. So that’s always quite nice.
“But I think game management and controlling the players (is similar). I mean, I look at the way Johnny plays, he’s always creating or demanding from the people around him. You can see him leading, and he tells what he wants from the players around him.
“And that was a big focus for me, probably more in the later stages of my career, because I’d just get away with natural talent (in the early stages), but then over time it was like, OK, now I’ve got to try and push the guys around me to help me and to help the team. So that sort of game management, controlling the game, for the two of us is very similar.”
While Sexton was reluctant to compare himself with the three-time World Player of the Year, he explained how he has been one of the key influences on his career.
“I don’t really want to compare myself to Dan Carter,” Sexton said.
“I will say that I’ve tried to watch Dan over the years. He’s not that much older than me, but he hit the skin a lot earlier than me.
“I remember watching his big break-through in 2005 against the Lions. I think I was just leaving school, and straight away tried to rob parts of his game and bring them into my own.
“I remember analysts showing all the young 10s in Ireland different clips of him, and when I talk about the greatest out-halves he’s obviously top of the tree.
“I used to really admire Jonny Wilkinson as well and try and take bits of his game, and Dan’s good friend Ronan O’Gara was the Irish out-half when I was growing up.
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“So I tried to always look at out-halves and take bits of their game and try and improve really. That was always something that I had in mind, and he was definitely at the fore-front of that.”
Despite his vast experience in the game, Sexton, 34, said he is still learning from fellow out-halves.
“I still definitely look at 10s, because often 10s come on the scene and they change the game in certain ways, or they do something where you think ‘OK, that’s a little bit special, I need to try and do that.’
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“But like some parts of my game, I couldn’t (change)… If I look at someone like Beauden Barrett, I can’t make myself unbelievably fast and score as many tries as he does. So that would just be silly. I’d break myself if I went out and tried to run quick.
“So it’s trying to be realistic and taking bits of people’s games that I admire and that I think would help me and the team.
“I’ve been lucky to learn from some great 10s. Felipe (Contepomi), I’m still leaning from him and I worked with ROG at Racing. He didn’t give me too many words of wisdom because he probably still felt like he was competing with me at the time. We probably were competing in training sessions, he was still joining in at that stage.
“But I’ve always tried to learn, and I’m still in that bracket. I still feel like one of the young guys so I want to keep trying to learn all the time.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Bold headline considering the Canes and Blues are 1 and 2 and the Brumbies were soundly beaten by the Chiefs and Blues. Biggest surprise is Rebels 4 Crusaders 12 - no one saw that coming. If Aus are improving that’s great 👍
1 Go to commentsAnna, You are right, we need to have patience whilst the others catch up to England and France. Also it is the PWR that has been the game changer for England. the RFU put money into that initially at the expense of the Red Roses. I was sceptical at first but it has paid off in spades.
1 Go to commentsI think Matt Proctor became a 1 test AB in the same fixture. Cameron is quality and has been great this season, can’t believe’s he only 27. Realistically how would he not be selected for ABs squad this year. Only Dmac is ahead of him as a specialist 10. With Jordan out, it will come down to where and when Beauden Barrett slots back in, and where they want to play Ruben Love. Cameron seems an absolute lock in for the wider squad though. Added benefit of TJ-Cameron-Jordie combination at 9, 10, 11 too.
1 Go to commentsFarcical, to what end would someone want to pay to keep this thing going.
1 Go to commentsHavili, our best 12 by a mile, will be in the squad, if he stays fit. JB is the most overrated AB in the last 50 years.
61 Go to commentsWe had during the week twilight footy, twilight cricket, tw golf plus there was the athletics club. Then the weekend was rugby 15s plus the net ball, really busy club scene back then but so much has changed and rugby has suffered. And it was all about changing lifestyles.
6 Go to commentsIn the 70s and 80s my club ran 5 Senior sides plus a Vets. Now it is 2 sides with an occasional 3rd team. Players have difficulty getting to training now, not sure why and the commitment is not there. It seems to me more a problem of people applying themselves and not expecting to turn up and play whenever they want to.
6 Go to commentsROG’s contract is until 2027. The conversation about a successor to Galthie after RWC 2027 may be starting now. We can infer that Galthie’s reign stops then. He is throwing the Irish Coaching Job angle in because he is Irish. The next Irish coach MUST be Leo Cullen. As well as being the best coach available, coaching the vast majority of Irish Internationals week in week out, he has shown incredible skill at recruiting the best coaching staff for the job in hand. That was a failing in France. Cullen is a shrewd guy and if there is a need for foreign coaches underneath him he won’t hesitate. Rightly so. Ireland does need to start to bring Irish coaches through. Not just at the professional level but we need to train coaches to man new pathways for developing kids from schools/clubs up through the divisions.
8 Go to commentsNo Islam says it must rule where it stands Thus it is to be deleted from this planet Earth
18 Go to commentsThis team probably does not beat the ABs sadly Not sure if BPA will be available given his signing for Force but has to enter consideration. Very strong possibility of getting schooled by the AB props. Advantage AB. Rodda/Skelton would be a tasty locking combination - would love to see how they get on. Advantage Wallabies. Backrow a risk of getting out hustled and outmuscled by ABs. Will be interesting to see if the Blues feast on the Reds this weekend the way they did the Brumbies we are in big trouble at the breakdown. Great energy, running and defence but goalkicking/general kicking/passing quality in the halves bothers me enormously. SA may have won the World Cup for a lot of the tournament without a recognised goalkicker but Pollard in the final made a difference IMO. Injuries and retirements leave AB stocks a bit lighter but still stronger. 12 and 13 ABs shade it (Barret > Paisami, Ione = Ikitau, arguably) Interesting clash of styles on the wings - Corey Toole running around Caleb Clark and Caleb running over the top of Toole. Reece vs Koro probably the reverse. Pretty even IMO. 15s Kelleway = Love See advantage to ABs man for man, but we are not obviously getting slaughtered anywhere which makes a nice change. Think talent wise we are pretty even and if our cohesion and teamwork is better than the ABs then its just about doable.
11 Go to commentsCompletely agree. More friday night games would be a hit. RFU to make sure every club has a floodlit pitch. Club opens again Saturday to welcome touch / tag. Minis and youths on Sunday
6 Go to comments1.97m and 105Kg? Proportionately, probably skinnier than me at 1.82 and 82kilos. He won’t survive against the big guys at that weight.
55 Go to commentsThe value he brought to the crusaders as an assistant was equal to what he got out of being there. He reflected not only on the team culture but also the credit he attributed to the rugby community. Such experience shouldn’t be overlooked.
8 Go to commentsGood luck Aussie
11 Go to commentssmith at 9 / mounga 10 / laumape 12 / fainganuku 14
61 Go to commentsBar the injuries, it’s pretty much their top team …
2 Go to commentsDon’t disagree with much of this but it appears you forgot Rodda and Beale, who started at the Force on the weekend.
11 Go to commentsExcept for the injured Zach Gallagher this would be Saders best forward pack for the season. Blackadder needs to stay at 7, for all of Christies tackling he is not dominant and offers very little else. McNicholfullback is maybe a good option, Fihaki not really upto it, there was a reason Burke played there last year. Maybe Havilli to 2nd five McLeod to wing. Need a strong winger on 1 side to compliment Reece
1 Go to commentsTo me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
61 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
8 Go to comments