JOHNNY SEXTON HAS taken some heavy knocks for Ireland and Leinster this year, but the out-half says he’s fair game – as long as the hits are legal.
Late tackles on the 30-year-old appeared to become something of a theme during the Six Nations, with Yoann Maestri setting the tone with his elbow charge on Sexton during Ireland’s defeat in Paris.
England, Italy and Scotland subsequently looked to ruffle the number 10′s feathers, hardly a surprise given his importance to Joe Schmidt’s Ireland.
England coach Eddie Jones took it all too far when he suggested that Sexton’s parents should be worried about their son’s health.
Though Sexton took issue with one or two of the incidents, and will continue to be picked out for physical intimidation by Leinster’s opponents in the coming weeks, he simply accepts that out-halves being targeted is part of the sport.
The Dubliner uses this weekend’s Pro12 clash between Leinster and Ulster, where Ireland international Paddy Jackson is almost certain to be at 10 for the northern province, as an example.
“You are going to target the number 10 more than any other player on the pitch but doing it legally is the thing,” says Sexton, who has been carrying a “niggle” in his knee since the Six Nations, but hopes he is now through that ahead of Saturday’s game.
Look, we are going to go out and try and make Paddy make a lot of tackles this week because he is going to have to make a lot of goal-kicks and it is going to be harder to make a lot of kicks if he is going to have to pick himself up off the ground 20 times in the game.
“That is just good, clever play.
“Yeah, it does happen but some of that stuff can be on the edge as you’re passing the ball and get tackled. I don’t have a problem with that, it’s the stuff that’s totally away from the ball that can be tougher to take.
“Look, it’s not something I have a problem with, I’ve never really said that it’s been a big problem. It’s just part of the game, once the referees are keeping an eye out for it then that’s the main thing.”
Sexton says the incident he most took issue with this season was the clearout by Alex Dunbar that saw the Scotland centre sin-binned and after which the Ireland out-half faced some criticism for milking the offence.
“The only one that I was a little bit angry about was the Scottish one where I got tipped upside down,” says Sexton. “You could see I was angry by my reaction; that was the only one that I felt vulnerable, the rest I felt fine.”
As well as being on the end of a large number of hits throughout his time as an international out-half, Sexton has increasingly become known for his excellent defensive game in recent years.
The Leinster man is one of the leading defensive out-halves in rugby, though many pundits have called for him to avoid making so many tackles and therefore putting himself at risk of harm.
“Once upon a time I was criticised that I couldn’t tackle; it’s funny how things can go from that to people then saying ‘Oh, you tackle too much,’” says Sexton. “It’s funny the way perceptions can change.
“I don’t know, I just go out and try to play my best and give it my all. It’s very hard to tell other people to defend if you’re not doing it yourself. I like to think I go out and do my best physically.
“I wouldn’t be the most physical guy on the team in terms of my size but once you try your best that’s the main thing, that’s the way I’ve always approached the game really. Going out trying not to tackle or staying away from tackles – I couldn’t think of playing a rugby match with that in mind and trying to save yourself.”
Not only has Sexton’s appetite for making tackles come under the microscope, but also his tackle technique.
There have been repeated expressions of concern that the former Racing playmaker goes into contact too high and therefore risks taking blows to the head.
“I can show you me having done chop tackles before,” says Sexton pointedly. “Why do I go high? I do it because it stops the opponent from offloading. We did it with Ireland when Les [Kiss] first came in, everyone was doing it.
“All of sudden it’s become a big issue with me for some reason, people are linking it to head knocks. Crazy talk.
“Surely you’ve got more chance of being hit in the head if you dive at someone’s knees than you do tackling somebody high. As long as one person who never played the game says ‘oh, he’s more susceptible,’ it’s gospel.
“It’s waffle, tackling high has nothing to do with getting hit in the head. I feel that sometimes I tackle better high, but I can show you times when I have gone low. I can show you times where I’ve gotten hurt trying to tackle low, I can show you bad examples of me trying to tackle low.
“There are other guys who tackle the exact same way and there’s no issue there. It’s not something I think about a lot.”
All in all, Sexton gets frustrated by the debate and opinion his wellbeing generates in the public sphere, particularly with so much of it being ill-informed and misguided.
The furore over Sexton and concussion during the Six Nations was the latest example of a trend that disappoints the Ireland out-half.
“All the stuff that was reported really wasn’t true and it creates a perception about you from a physical [point of view],” says Sexton. “I suppose if I was out of contract, clubs wouldn’t even consider talking to me last year with all the stuff that was in the papers.
“They wouldn’t have made any offers. The people don’t consider that; they just throw out that ‘this guy suffers from concussion.’ I don’t. I had one issue that season and it was put to bed and I haven’t had any since.
“It doesn’t help that people give an opinion without any expert… and it’s not just some media, it’s ex-players who don’t know. They just jump on the bandwagon. It is frustrating and it is disappointing. They could pick up the phone and ask me.”
Topaz announced the return of ‘Cash for Clubs’, a community initiative which offers clubs of all types across Ireland the chance to win up to €250,000 in cash prizes. On hand to kick off the campaign was Topaz ambassador Johnny Sexton, who has joined Ireland’s leading fuel and convenience retailer in encouraging clubs across the country to sign up and get involved.
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It’s probably pretty easy to target him considering he’s practically always the first reciever
I’d be real interested in knowing if that is something Sexton demands or somthing his coaches always do when he’s in the team.
David – the best out halves, especially bolshy ones like Sexton and ROG, demand the ball all the time. Also, for Ireland at least, we have rarely had a natural alternative as first receiver – no second five/eighth. Some of that, I would say, was tactical at times in the past: D’Arcy or Drico were certainly talented enough to be first receiver, but rarely showed up there because they were wanted out wider.
It is one of the reasons Zebo at FB is attractive: he has the passing game, the creativity and – of course – the gas to be a threat as first receiver. He can be our Kurtley Beale.
Yeah but by its very definition a gameplan is inherently limited if it all runs through one guy regardless of how good that player is. I think having a few forwards passing the ball around well would lend a lot more to the Irish team than anything. Noticeable especially that with O’Mahony gone that Heaslip is the only one who does this really.
I think Toner has really developed his passing over the past few seasons. He’s no Brodie Retalick, but he is a good distributor.
Van der Flier was used a little during his games in the Six Nations this year. Looked very comfortable passing the ball, another optional I reckon.
All of the Connacht forwards are becoming good ball payers: markedly more so than the other provinces.
Schmidt doesn’t have the players for long enough to do any coaching of core skills: either they develop them at club level, or they (the players, or the skills) are not available to the national team.
Plays well when the pressure is off but in intense games with Maximum pressure he goes missing , wouldn’t take a drop goal against NZ or Wales.
Like when he scored two tries against France when we needed to win in Paris to get a 6N title. Or the whole of the next 6N, he was total rubbish then. Crap in all those Heineken Cup finals too, especially against Northampton. And the 2012 6N went really well when he got injured early in the second game, didn’t it? Beat Wales first up, scoring tries, then didn’t win another match – but that’s just coincidence. Also the last two World Cup quarter finals went well when he was respectively not picked (terrible choice by Kidney) and injured. We always play so well without him. He’s shit. QED.
Total horsesh*t, Pete
How about the game against Wales in Feb where he took a huge knock, then scored a very long range penalty to pull Ireland level with 5 mins to go? No pressure there?
Have you ever seen him play in a European Cup final Pete? Or even close semi-finals for that matter. Single handedly won the European Cup for Leinster in 2011 when Leinster were beaten out the gate in the first half… Scored a nice 50 metre drop goal against Leicester in the 2009 final, kept his nerve to put Munster away in Croke Park, was superb away to Clermont in 2012 nail bighter semi, was a corner stone in back to back 6 nations wins… But he missed a penalty against NZ, QED he’s a bottler.
Watch Ronan O’Gara in the 2000 Heineken Cup final and tell me if that means he was a bottler for his whole career too.
We’ve one of the best 10′s in the northern hemisphere, before you slate him, imagine the options without him – both for province and country.
Ah yea, sure he only has three Heineken Cup medals, two Six nations medals, is a Lions-series winner, and has a few league medals and a Challenge Cup medal too (all as the starting out half). But sure, what does that prove?
That is some collection of medals!probably has a few under 11 ground hurling medals as well!
My my… the blue is strong in you all… Our Jonny cannot be criticised… Ever… it seems… he is wrong about the high tackles though . Head to head knocks are a lot more likely
Hey don’t know what he’s saying. He’s concussed
Is it coincidence that racing are doing so well in Europe since Carter replaced him ?
Racing are a team building from the past few years, he was part of that building and Carter has taken it to the next level.
You cant really compare him to DC the greatest flyhalf to ever play the game and probably the second greatest player after King Richie! The numbers DC has put up in his 100+ tests are phenomenal and probably wont be bettered in our life time! JS is a great player in his own right but if you compare most flyhalves to DC they will all fall well short!
I stand corrected
Said the man in the orthopaedic shoes
Well many Doctors would disagree
I was talking to an ex Leinster player who is now a doctor
He said that the high tackle is tactical it prevents the offload
But now that players are bulking up it leads to more head injuries
Sexton is right simply
Can’t see how linking high tackles with head knocks is ‘crazy talk’
There is no arguing that Dan Carter is the greatest fly half in the world, but like Richie McCaw he benefited from the NZRU giving him a sabbatical or two in order to extend his career & make last years world cup. I would love to have seen the IRFU give some of our world class players an longer break after the world cup and maybe it would have saved us and them all this drama and scare mongering.