LAST UPDATE | 5 Nov 2020

JOHNNY SEXTON HAS received the backing of head coach Andy Farrell following his petulant outburst in Paris last weekend.

Speaking to media this morning, Farrell was asked if he felt undermined by his captain’s reaction to being substituted during Saturday’s defeat in Paris. 

Sexton was captured on camera shaking his head in disgust following Farrell’s decision to take him off with 10 minutes to go, prompting criticism from former Ireland captains, Brian O’Driscoll and Keith Wood. In addition, Eddie O’Sullivan – the Ireland head coach from 2001 to 2008 – said Sexton’s reaction had undermined Farrell.

But Ireland coach Farrell is backing his captain, saying: “I don’t feel undermined at all. Not at all. It is a storm in a tea cup.”

Sexton responded: “I have apologised to the people who matter. I am disappointed in myself with (my) reaction to a certain extent.

“Obviously if I had known the stories that it was going to create and the way that it has been perceived then I would not have done it.

“But you have got to take it from my point of view – it was in the heat of the moment, I was involved in one the biggest games I have played in as captain – and it was obviously a low point. I reacted in a bad way for a split second.

I spoke to Andy after the game; I spoke to him on Sunday when I realised it was such a big thing and we sorted things out. I apologised. I said ‘look, it shouldn’t have happened. But it did. It was a split second thing. Obviously I let myself down in that regard’. But you learn and you move on.

“It is not the first apology I have made in my career and it won’t be the last.

“We will move on; we have a good relationship.”

Asked if the reaction was over-the-top, Sexton replied: “You don’t realise you are going to be on the big screen when you are substituted.

“Had someone said to me, ‘you’re going to be on the screen’ then I wouldn’t have done it.

“But when you are in the heat of battle, when you are playing an international, when you are captain of the team, you are disappointed in the performance as much as anything. There was as much disappointment in the situation (whereby Ireland were losing) as there was in the substitution.

“I am who I am. I have apologised to the people who matter but I am not going to sit here and sort of apologise to the whole world because it was a split-second thing, a split-second decision that I wish I didn’t make. But I did – so there you go.”

While Farrell is aware of how big a saga this has become, the Ireland head coach does not consider it a significant issue. “Johnny and I always have discussions, we constantly talk about how things are going with the group, we discuss everything, his individual game, his captaincy,” said Farrell.

Farrell and Sexton's relationship remains strong. James Crombie / INPHO James Crombie / INPHO / INPHO

“He is a passionate guy and it is a reason we all love him as a player. So no, I don’t feel undermined and neither do the team.

“We need Johnny to be himself and there is always going to be learnings along the way but you are not going to change over night a person who has been at the top because of the intent and attitude he has got. We are always learning together.”

Asked if this was a storm in a tea cup, Farrell replied: “100 per cent. The last thing I want to do to Johnny is stop him being himself.”

And there seems little danger of that.

Sexton added: “I love being captain – it is the biggest honour of my career and I am trying to get better at the role, trying to seek out opinions and talk to the lads and talk to the management and see where I am going, whether I am doing a good enough job. I have dealt with things my whole career. I have reacted worse to be subbed off before.

“I’m not saying it is okay to do that – to react that way. Of course it isn’t okay, but at the same time, it is a split-second reaction. Normally the camera focuses on the player coming off not the player coming on but obviously my French (television) friends gathered my reaction.”