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Johnny Sexton: 'So much for their humility'

Jonathan Sexton of Ireland and Rieko Ioane of New Zealand after the 2023 Rugby World Cup quarter-final match between Ireland and New Zealand at the Stade de France in Paris, France. (Photo By Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Johnny Sexton has defended his outburst towards Rieko Ioane after Ireland’s Rugby World Cup quarter-final defeat to New Zealand in his new book Obsessed – The Autobiography of Johnny Sexton. 

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In the book, Sexton lifts the lid on his angry reaction, stating it was in response to Ioane’s own x-rated remark to the crestfallen Ireland fly-half at full-time. Ireland went into the 2023 World Cup ranked No.1 in the world and beat South Africa in the group stage before losing to New Zealand in the quarter-finals.

The Sunday Times published extracts from the book this weekend, detailing the aftermath of the defeat and Sexton’s view of the incident.

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Handre Pollard sheds light on Ireland without Johnny Sexton

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Handre Pollard sheds light on Ireland without Johnny Sexton

“I couldn’t bring myself to watch the quarter-final back. I don’t think I ever will. I don’t need to. I’ve mentally replayed every second, over and over. It finishes the same way every time. Rónan Kelleher still ploughs into Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock. Whitelock goes in for the poach, clearly without releasing, but somehow Wayne Barnes awards him the penalty, even though it has all happened under his nose — and it’s all over.

“And as I stand there, hands on hips, staring in disbelief at Barnes, Rieko Ioane still comes up to me and tells me, “Get back ten metres.”

“Huh?

“Penalty,” he says. “Back ten.” And then, after Barnes blows the final whistle, he says, “Don’t miss your flight tomorrow. Enjoy your retirement, you c**t.” So much for the All Blacks’ famous “no dickheads” policy. So much for their humility. I walk after Ioane and call him a fake-humble f***er. It doesn’t look great, me having a go at one of them just after we’ve lost. But I can’t be expected to ignore that.

“Later, I got in touch with Joe Schmidt to explain my behaviour. Joe was part of the All Blacks’ coaching team and we go back a long way. Typically, he’d been gracious in victory that night. He took time to say nice things to Luca, on the pitch, shortly after the game. The Barrett brothers — Beauden, Scott and Jordie — were real gentlemen, too, as was Ardie Savea, who had some lovely words of consolation for me. I appreciated that.”

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Sexton also writes that he is “still convinced” that Ireland were the best team in the tournament. He also acknowledges New Zealand’s well-coached effort, particularly crediting Schmidt’s influence.

He also recalls his son Luca’s comforting words after the match, marking the beginning of his healing process.

“I struggled to contain my sadness afterwards, but the healing process began even while I was still on the pitch in Saint-Denis. The TV cameras were on me and Luca when he looked up and told me, “You’re still the best, Dad.”

Obsessed, The Autobiography by Johnny Sexton is published by Penguin, Sandycove on the 10th Oct at £20/€25. Available to pre-order now

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Comments

284 Comments
A
Ace 49 days ago

If offensive comments are indeed removed turdflow will disappear from this forum...

J
Jason 50 days ago

Sexton would be an awful best friend - he’d tell your missus everything.

T
Terry24 52 days ago

Another hom0phobic/hom0 s3xual reference. If you keep calling others h0mos, it doesn't make you any less g@y son. It just makes you look g@y. I've no problem with it. But you should know, you're outing yourself....

A
AD 52 days ago

🤣 Aww. What's your address? Box of kleenex coming.. 😂😂😂😂😂😂

Good riddance to you, sore loser.

T
Terry24 52 days ago

What? JFC Run along troll...


Yes, yes you win...just f**k off boy

A
AD 52 days ago

Awwww. That's the sign of a loser. So angry he goes back to the old get lost troll insult. I must say, it's been lover ting educating here a little bit. Maybe it will sink in over time. Give it ten years and Ireland will be back to the class of 95'.

N
NK 52 days ago

What did Sexton write about his behaviour after the La Rochelle final?

T
Terry24 52 days ago

I am sure he did, why? He apologized for that immediately. Not seeing an apology from Ioane, Retallick, Foster or Cane about NZs behaviour after the final whisle in Paris. The opposite

T
The One 52 days ago

You're really a very stupid person.

T
Terry24 52 days ago

Humble Rugby teams respect their opponents after the final whistle. Arrogant teams dont. It's really that simple.

W
WI 49 days ago

You need to be humble now. Not just for the pride of ireland, but for rugby. You can, a change for now, you have it in you in yourself to be.

A
AD 52 days ago

Indeed. Ireland players arrogance, especially when shaking hands with the south African players saying we'll see you in yeh final certainly reeks of arrogance (for a team thats never made it past the quarterfinals). Ridiculous. Ireland needed to be taken down a peg.

T
Terry24 52 days ago

Why does this a$$hole continue to be unblocked after I keep blocking him RugbyPass? Fix the glitch please. He is following me and trolling me.


Ive blocked you. Do not attaempt to converse with me @The A$$hole

T
Terry24 52 days ago

We will have a fairer draw in RWC 2027 and it will stop being set up for the established powers to win. With a bit of luck we won't get our usual major match scheduled the week before our first knock out match. Out of fairness NZ and SA should take their turn in that slot, instead of Ireland, France, Scotland but we won't hold our breath there.


Again, we will do what we haven't done before and target a team before hand. That will be NZ. This time we will have a win or two in Knock outs under our belt so an even playing field.

T
The One 53 days ago

"inventing non existant (sic) stories"


That sounds a lot like you calling people r@cists without any evidence...

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H
Hellhound 34 minutes ago
France put World Cup pain behind them with unbeaten run in November

France is starting to look like they are finally over their WC headache, although they were lucky that NZ had a very bad game. The Argies as usual is one game good, the next bad. If they can sort that out and be more consistent, they could become contenders for the WC.


NZ, Argentina (if they are more consistent), and now the Wallabies too is in an upward curve (can they be consistent?), as well as Fiji(as inconsistent as Argentina) looks like possible contenders. The Boks will be as usual a huge threat to defend their title. Things are looking up for the South, so the North should rightfully beware of the Southern Hemisphere threat.


With the French looking dangerous, the English with their close runs (mostly a mindset problem) and the Scottish seems to be the NH main contenders. The Irish is good, but not excellent anymore. They are more overbearing and with their glory days mostly gone with old players hanging on by a thread, by 2027 if they don't start adding in the younger players, they won't make it past yet another WC Quarter final. The problem is that their youngsters, while good is nothing special.


That is just 8 teams without the Irish that can become real WC contenders. Lots of hickups to be sorted still for these teams, excluding the Boks to become a threat. Make no mistake, the top Tier is much closer than people realise and the 2027 WC will be a really great WC, possibly the best contended WC ever.

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