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Johnny Sexton urges Ireland to avoid mistakes of the past

By PA

30 Jun 2022

(Photo by David Davies/PA Images via Getty Images)

Captain Johnny Sexton says Ireland must keep evolving in order to avoid repeating the mistake of peaking too soon for a World Cup.

The Irish travelled to the 2019 tournament in Japan with high expectations following a Six Nations Grand Slam and a statement victory over New Zealand the previous year but suffered a familiar quarter-final exit.

With the 2023 World Cup on the horizon, Andy Farrell’s in-form side are poised to test their current credentials during a three-match series against the All Blacks.

Andy Farrell and Bundee Aki on the loss to Maori All Blacks | Ireland post-match press conference

Fly-half Sexton, who will retire after next year’s competition in France, is striving to maintain the upward trajectory having helped silence the doubters during an unconvincing start to Farrell’s reign as head coach.

“We were written off left, right and centre and we’ve come back and we’ve showed some great stuff,” he told Sky Sports ahead of Saturday’s first Test in Auckland.

“We’ve had some great results to go with it because we were always saying, ‘it’s coming, it’s coming’ and I think people were looking at us going, ‘is it really?’.

“And now we’ve got to keep it going.

“We’ve got to keep improving because that’s the mistake we made in the last cycle for the World Cup; we probably peaked in 2018 and we didn’t continue to evolve and that’s what we’re keen to not let happen.”

Ireland have won 12 of their last 13 Tests, including defeating New Zealand 29-20 in Dublin last autumn to partially avenge World Cup elimination at their hands in Tokyo.

Sexton, who turns 37 in less than a fortnight, will lead his country at Eden Park this weekend, with further meetings with Ian Foster’s All Blacks to come in Dunedin and Wellington.

He believes the tour is the ideal opportunity to increase squad depth, with five uncapped players among the initial 40-man travelling party.

“We’ve put some fresh faces on this tour that we need to get up to speed, that we need to create that really competitive environment for that next World Cup,” he said.

“We need a lot of guys to be ready and that’s what the point of this tour is, to test us and to see how deep we can go in our squad.”

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Comments on RugbyPass

JW 2 minutes ago

'It’s harsh saying it but I’m speaking facts and truths on El-Abd'

You'd think England were understand that's there level by now and stop continually shooting themselves in the foot with this type of carryon.

3 Go to comments

JW 3 minutes ago

'It’s harsh saying it but I’m speaking facts and truths on El-Abd'

Gotta feel for a country like England if guys like this are voice in the game.

That is Felix Jones's system dude, nothing to do with Joe.

3 Go to comments

JW 20 minutes ago

Can Will Jordan avoid the All Blacks curse of turning 27?

It's different for everyone. MNS never had pace to start with. Savea just kept dropping the ball. The key example I believe is duration. Many of these players were gifted and asked to be at a high level before they were 20 yo, so 8 years of performing at your best is a pretty long window to be fair.

That's not funny Nickers. You think he should just be happy falling by the wayside? I don't think he has the desire to add bulk but I'd love to see that switch like Narawa has. Narawa should have been the 15 holding Jordans jersey this year (after Pero got injured) too.

5 Go to comments

JW 26 minutes ago

Can Will Jordan avoid the All Blacks curse of turning 27?

Short answer? No. That pace is central to everything in his game, that goes through his head. We saw in the last week or two him try and pin his ears back. But his real trouble, is of course a young Will Jordan coming along and taking his place.

None of this will necessarily make him a more prolific try-scorer, but it will mean that he can develop into a multi-skilled fullback and hold his place in the team for many more years..

I think this is really the next stage of his career, extending it by becoming more round. I also like Mark Tele'a on the right wing more, with his more recent recent record of 13 tries from 19 games and ability to get much better given his recency.

Robertson in assessing Jordan’s 2024 season, says: “He can finish on the wing.. "

F%ck right off Razor. Pick an extra forward instead.

5 Go to comments

ES 42 minutes ago

'He's a fighter' – Johann van Graan on England discard Ben Spencer

I predict both Spencer and Lawrence will shine again for Bath in the coming weeks. The reason? They will both be managed and directed on the pitch by Finn Russell.

3 Go to comments

AA 42 minutes ago

'He's a fighter' – Johann van Graan on England discard Ben Spencer

Ben Spencer played Mitchell off the park in the prem final and had Bath not had player sent off would have won .

On form alone he should be the no 1 .

Very shabby treatment by Borthwick. Very poor player management .

Make your mind up Borthwick and stop chopping and changing and give the team a chance.

3 Go to comments

dw 52 minutes ago

'Welsh regional rugby has failed conclusively and there is no way back'

So when Rod falls short of a title you say it's "bloody tough to win" a comp but when a foreign coach falls short they are stealing the souls of Australian players? What on earth fuels this

31 Go to comments

dw 53 minutes ago

'Welsh regional rugby has failed conclusively and there is no way back'

You trash more Aussies than anyone else mate. The most unAustralian sports fan on the internet.

31 Go to comments

OJohn 1 hour ago

'Welsh regional rugby has failed conclusively and there is no way back'

How about some new material other than kiwi coaches are great it's just that Australians are rubbish.

31 Go to comments

Cantab 1 hour ago

Sione Tuipulotu's Scotland emphatically end Wallabies grand slam dream

Could have, should have but didn't. Unfortunately it seems Northern teams rely on the assistance of penalties and yellow cards without doing a lot themselves. Will exclude France from that though. I believe Ireland to be on a downward spiral now

7 Go to comments

JW 1 hour ago

'Let's not sugarcoat it': Former All Black's urgent call to protect eligibility rules

The effects of allowing players to go overseas will only be known in 10, 20, or even 30 years time.

The lower quality professional level has to seep into the young viewership, those just starting school rugby now, along with the knockon affect of each immediate group, stars to professional, pro to emerging etc, and then it would have to cycle through 2 or 3 times before suddenly you notice you're rugby isn't as good as what it used to be.

This ideology only works for the best of the best of course. If you're someone on the outside, like an Australian player, and you come into the New Zealand game you only get better and as thats the best league, it filters into the Australian psyche just as well. Much the same idea for nations like Scotland, England, even Ireland, you probably get better from having players playing in France, because the level is so much higher. Risk is also reduced for a nation like South Africa as well, as they play in the URC and EPCR and thats what the audience watch their own stars play in. It wouldn't matter as much if that wasn't for a South African team.

So when you say Rassie has proven it can work, no, he hasn't. All he has shown is that a true master mind can deal with the difficulties of juggling players around, who all have different 'peak' points in their season, and get them to perform. And his players are freaks and he's only allowed the best of the best to go overseas. Not one All Black has come back from a sabbatical in is good nick/form as he left, yet. Cane was alright but he was injured and in NZ for most the Super season, Ardie was well off the pace when he came back.

Those benefits don't really exist for New Zealand. I would be far more happy if a billionaire South African drew a couple of stars, even just young ones, over to play in the URC, because we know their wouldn't be that drop in standard. Perhaps Jake should look there? I would have thought one of the main reasons we haven't already seen that is because SA teams don't need to pay to get players in though.

44 Go to comments

frandinand 1 hour ago

'Welsh regional rugby has failed conclusively and there is no way back'

Like so many Queenslanders Walter has a huge inferiority complex. This manifests itself as a hatred of anyone or anything that's more successful than Queensland.

31 Go to comments

AF 1 hour ago

The emerging nations team of the year 2024

Great team

3 Go to comments

mJ 1 hour ago

'Welsh regional rugby has failed conclusively and there is no way back'

The style of play in Super Rugby isn’t helping the Wallabies either. The first two autumn tests were pretty loose affairs which suited the Wallabies but Scotland and South Africa never gave them anything in attack and the Wallabies backs have nothing, even when presented with some front foot ball in the first 20min against Scotland 9, 10 and 12 for the Wallabies just went with static deep out the back plays. I really don’t see any growth in this team that’s going to cope with a good defence and their defence against Scotland was shocking still with 30 missed tackles. Folk got some false hope against England, I feel a thrashing by Ireland this weekend is on the cards with Ireland improving since they played the ABs.