JONNY SEXTON SAYS victories like the one against South Africa tonight will give Ireland belief that they can make a real impact at next year’s Rugby World Cup.
Joe Schmidt’s side recorded a 29-15 victory over the Spingboks at the Aviva Stadium with Rhys Ruddock and Tommy Bowe getting the tries before JP Pietersen’s consolation.
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Man-of-the-match Sexton, who was successful with four penalties and and two conversions, praised the quality of Ireland’s squad after several superb performances from players filling in for those missing through injury.
“From 1-23 it was an absolute squad performance,” Sexton told RTÉ at the final whistle.
“We came in here with a game plan and knew it was going to be a bit greasy and we wanted to put the pressure on them. We executed it pretty well. It wasn’t pretty at times but it was all about the victory today.
“With all the players we were missing, to pull a victory out against arguably the joint-best team in the world is great and the support here was outstanding today.
“We left it behind a bit in New Zealand last year and we didn’t want that to happen again so it was great to get the victory.”
“We’re performance-driven so no matter who is missing, the guys that come in are expected to do a job and thankfully they did it today,” he added. “It wasn’t perfect and we’ll have plenty to improve on as we always do with Joe. We will get back to the drawing board this week for Georgia and then a big game against Australia after that.
We’re building towards the World Cup and the Six Nations and it’s important to beat these southern hemisphere teams to give us the confidence going into the World Cup.
“Like I said, it wasn’t perfect but to beat these guys who play with some intensity, there will be a lot of sore bodies this week and you know when you have played a test match against South Africa.”
Sexton: It wasn't perfect but we're building towards the World Cup
JONNY SEXTON SAYS victories like the one against South Africa tonight will give Ireland belief that they can make a real impact at next year’s Rugby World Cup.
Joe Schmidt’s side recorded a 29-15 victory over the Spingboks at the Aviva Stadium with Rhys Ruddock and Tommy Bowe getting the tries before JP Pietersen’s consolation.
Man-of-the-match Sexton, who was successful with four penalties and and two conversions, praised the quality of Ireland’s squad after several superb performances from players filling in for those missing through injury.
“From 1-23 it was an absolute squad performance,” Sexton told RTÉ at the final whistle.
“We came in here with a game plan and knew it was going to be a bit greasy and we wanted to put the pressure on them. We executed it pretty well. It wasn’t pretty at times but it was all about the victory today.
“With all the players we were missing, to pull a victory out against arguably the joint-best team in the world is great and the support here was outstanding today.
“We left it behind a bit in New Zealand last year and we didn’t want that to happen again so it was great to get the victory.”
“We’re performance-driven so no matter who is missing, the guys that come in are expected to do a job and thankfully they did it today,” he added. “It wasn’t perfect and we’ll have plenty to improve on as we always do with Joe. We will get back to the drawing board this week for Georgia and then a big game against Australia after that.
“Like I said, it wasn’t perfect but to beat these guys who play with some intensity, there will be a lot of sore bodies this week and you know when you have played a test match against South Africa.”
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Aviva Stadium All-Ireland Senior HC Ireland Jonny Sexton man of the match NOVEMBER INTERNATIONAL South Africa