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Why Paul O'Connell is confident about Ireland minus Johnny Sexton
Paul O’Connell has no reservations about the possibility of Ross Byrne, Jack Crowley or Ciaran Frawley starting a Rugby World Cup match in place of influential Ireland captain Johnny Sexton.
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Suspension has ruled fly-half Sexton out of his country’s warm-up matches against Italy, England and Samoa, leaving a trio of inexperienced understudies vying to stake their claim for the role.
Frawley remains uncapped at international level, while his Leinster teammate Byrne and Munster man Crowley have just four Test starts between them.
Veteran Sexton will complete his three-match ban in time to feature in Ireland’s World Cup opener against Romania on September 9 but he is short of match fitness having not played since March due to injury.
Although forwards coach O’Connell acknowledged that the stand-in options are Test rookies, he would back each of them to perform on the biggest stage if required.
“I’d be confident in all of them,” he said ahead of Saturday’s Dublin clash with Italy. “One of the strengths we have is that we have good clarity on how we are trying to play the game and the players have to take ownership of that clarity quite a lot. You do figure out a guy that is unsure very, very quickly.
“But all of our guys know how we want to play. They don’t have as much practice at it or as much experience as Johnny has of taking ownership of it but that is why these few weeks will be great for them.
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“We play differently to Munster and to Leinster and the guys that are there but there are a lot of similarities as well so it’s nothing massively new to them.
“They have all driven the ship for their provinces in big, big games and done really well. There is a little bit of a tweak to how we do things and they have got to pick that up.”
Sexton’s last competitive action was four and a half months ago when he limped off with a groin issue during Ireland’s Grand Slam-clinching win over England.
The 38-year-old, who has 113 caps for his country, has been training fully with Andy Farrell’s 42-man preliminary squad this summer ahead of his last competition before retirement.
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Ireland’s selection is due to be cut to a final 33 on August 28 and O’Connell has urged those who do miss out to not feel too disheartened. “It’s not all or nothing,” said the 43-year-old, who represented Ireland at four World Cups between 2003 and 2015.
“You hope that by being in here, training with us, training with good players, that players are improving and they are looking at their opportunity to get a chance, to try to get picked for the World Cup and, if they don’t, that they break in in the future.
“They all want to go to the World Cup for sure, but selection for the World Cup is not an all-or-nothing thing. I’m sure plenty of guys are going to be disappointed.
“They have their sights set on getting their chances and taking it but I think they’re all going to be better on the back of this pre-season.”
Comments on RugbyPass
Why cant I watch Rugby games please?
1 Go to commentsBeautiful shot from Finau, end of story. Gutted for Shaun Stevenson though.
4 Go to commentsThe Chiefs definitely didn’t win ugly. They had the superior scrum, a dominant lineout, and their defence was excellent once the Waratahs scored their two tries (thanks to some lucky refereeing calls mind you). They put pressure on the Waratahs lineout throughout the game, and the mind boggles as to why the referee did not award a yellow card or a penalty try against the Waratahs for repeated scrum infringements on their own try line before Narawa’s first try. And the Chiefs were slick with their passing and running angles on attack. It was a dominant performance all round, even with many questionable refereeing decisions.
1 Go to commentsWasnt late. Ref 2 assistants andTMO all saw it so who are you to say it was?
4 Go to commentsAre the Brumbies playing the Blues twice in a row?
4 Go to commentsBig difference from the Saders. Forwards really muscled up and laid a solid platform. Scooter brought some steel and I liked the loosie combination. Newell has been rather disappointing this season but stepped up big time - happy also to see Franks dot down. He should do that more often! Reihana had a good game and there seems to be more flair and invention with him in the saddle. McNicoll plays well from the back and is reliable plus inventive when he joins the line. Keep it up chaps!
3 Go to comments🤦♂️🤣 who cares who’s the best . All I know is the All Blacks have the star coach but have few star players now …
31 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
4 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 Crusaders , you can keep going.
3 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!😭😭😭 !!!
31 Go to commentsYup. New Zealand won 3 out of 10 world cups played. SA 4 out of 8 attempts 30 Vs 50 per cent.🤔🤔
31 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.
31 Go to comments