LAST UPDATE | 2 Nov 2021
JOHNNY SEXTON SAYS he doesn’t anticipate signing a new contract with the IRFU until after the 2022 Six Nations, but is determined to keep playing for Ireland.
Sexton – who is set to win his 100th Test cap this weekend – is out of contract at the end of the season, but remains a hugely important figure as Andy Farrell’s captain and first-choice out-half with the 2023 World Cup just two years away.
Sexton doesn’t expect any news on the contract front this side of Christmas, and while he outlined that he does hope to put pen to paper on a new deal, he also added that he will take his time before making any decision.
His current IRFU contract was announced back in March, right in the middle of Ireland’s 2021 Six Nations campaign.
“At the moment I’m loving it, I’m loving training, my body’s good, my mind is good and yeah, in an ideal world I’d love to keep going,” Sexton said.
“But what I learned last year is that you can’t plan too far ahead, you really can’t.
“I had everything planned around what I was going to do on the tour in the summer and then suddenly it’s up in smoke, so I’m taking it game by game, campaign by campaign.
I think the IRFU have been very good to me over the last seven years since I’ve come back from Paris in terms of… Like, we made a decision at the end of the Six Nations this year, I don’t think it will be any different this year, I think it will be wait until the end of that and see how we all are.”
Saturday’s game against Japan represents a significant fixture for the veteran out-half, who will turn 37 next July, as he prepares to join a select club by winning his 100th Test cap for Ireland.
“I honestly will try and leave talking about myself to other people, as much as I can,” Sexton continued, “but the ability to bounce back is something that I’d like to say I’d be proud of because in my career I’ve felt like I’ve had a lot of brilliant moments, a lot of winning trophies, all those things, all those special memories, but I’ve also had a hell of a lot of low points as well, which have always driven me.
“So I suppose if you want to be a good role model for kids looking in, it’s don’t give up and always try to bounce back, and that’s what I’d like to think people would see when they see me.”
Sexton’s achievement is all the more impressive given he didn’t make his Ireland debut until the age of 24.
“When you do get your first cap as late as I did, I know it’s not really old but compared to some other lads who get capped at 20, 21 – I had to work a long time to get that one cap and I was unbelievably happy to get the first one and they’re the most special ones.
And yeah, I never in a million years thought I’d still be playing but I think over the last few years I’ve just taken it year on year and see how I felt.
“In the back of my mind you always had it, obviously I was gutted to miss the French game last year because I knew if I had kept fit and kept my form that I would have played 100th against England.
“But everything happens for a reason and hopefully getting your 100th cap in front of some people (supporters) would be more special, I think, and I’m trying to focus on the game, I don’t want to get drawn away from how important the game is and trying to get a performance early.
“We often haven’t hit the ground running and need to make sure we can do that ahead of the Six Nations, making sure we hit the ground running from week one.”
Saturday will also represent the first time Sexton has faced Japan. He missed the 2019 World Cup game due to a quad injury and then wasn’t in the squad for this summer’s meeting at the Aviva Stadium.
“At the World Cup game, I remember watching them, I was on the pitch watching Ireland’s warm-up and was drawn into watching the Japanese team warm up and how good they were, how good their skills were, even though it was the warm-up they were going at such tempo.
“We obviously learned a hard lesson at the World Cup and they are just a team that are unbelievably well coached, that’s what I see when I look at them. You can tell how well drilled they are and obviously their coaches come with big reputations from what they did with the Highlanders and winning a Super (Rugby) title.
“So yeah, I can’t say enough about them and we will 100% give them the respect they deserve, we’re preparing as well as we prepare for anyone.”
First published today at 16.00
Very easy to blame a few mistakes when in truth the individuals and the system were terrible. Ireland don’t have an offload/continuity game yet that’s what we tried from the first ball against the best team in the world. We didn’t help ourselves with poor kicking and cheap turnovers but to not mention the coaches and tactics in this analysis is very short-sighted
@Mark Dooley: players largely to blame for basic errors. Coaching staff have to take blame for selection of non form & rusty players and for lack of variety to our game since our the win v all blacks. It was a chance for them to throw caution to the wind and start the with at the least Beirne, ruddock & larmour.
Good analysis Murray
@Mark Dooley: this excellent analysis clear shows that the team was well set up tactically as we were creating space but basic errors by players meant we failed to take advantage of those opportunities. In fact we turned the ball over and handed advantage to NZ. Once again an Irish team has not turned up for a World Cup. That for me is a mental issue that we need to face up to and overcome. Blaming coaches, injuries etc only avoiding the truth and the real issue. Interesting to hear Schmidt say they started focusing on this QTR final end last year, just before their form went to shit.
@Mark Dooley: Excellent analysis by Murray. I disagree with you blaming the coaches & tactics. Uncharacteristic errors, missed kicks & missed tackles by players cost us dearly plus NZ were ruthlessly clinical imho.
@David Supple: coaches responsible for selecting out of form players based on what they have done in the past. Kearney in particular was a pick to try and not lose a game rather than win one as he offers nothing in attack. All you gave to do is look at the abs selection policy for 15 and it is almost always a try scoring machine and the rawness of the two wings to see what proactive selection looks like.
It will be interesting to see what a defensive coach in Farrell. thinks or does with Stockdale. His instinct is to go for the interception and he bites quite a bite. When it works it’s fantastic but when it doesn’t it’s at least 3 points.
I’m not singling our Stockdale but more how our new coach sees it.
Why in this article and others are teams lauded for being able to catch and pass the ball, these players are playing rugby 5 days a week why do we think catch pass is so special, is it because Ireland are so bad at it? Its been killing Munster for 10 years when will we wake up to the basic skills required????
The muppets in the crowd should have shut up and respected the haka. Those clowns over there are just bandwagon jumpers.
@munsterman: Totally disagree, it should be shown as much respect that it deserves and that is f£¥k all!
@munsterman: stupid comment. Had nothing to do with anything