Sexton will get kicking right, says Tainton

IRELAND fly-half Jonny Sexton has been backed to rediscover his place-kicking form after a disappointing start with the boot to his World Cup.

Sexton has sent over just four of his 11 attempts at goal in the victories against the United States and Australia, to leave him as one of 10 place kickers in the tournament currently with statistics under 50%.

Ireland kicking coach Mark Tainton, however, is not worried about the dip in form with the boot, despite seeing Sexton’s replacement as kicker, Ronan O’Gara, come off the bench and successfully kick three of four attempts.

“Concern is probably a bit of an overstatement. We always want our kickers to be up to about 80%,”Tainton said yesterday as Ireland moved 80 kilometres north from a three-day stay in Taupo to Rotorua, where they play Russia on Sunday.

“The things he was doing at the end (of his kicking shift against Australia), he did nail two kicks. I know one of them hit the posts but actually his technique was right back to where it was meant to be.

“All his training sessions, he’s very relaxed about what he’s doing, it’s not affecting him or his actual rugby. We try and separate rugby playing from kicking. If the kick goes over, fantastic. If he misses, then you just go back into game mode. He’s done that really, really well when the kicks haven’t gone 100% for him.”

Whether or not that loss of kicking form is beginning to become a mental problem, Tainton said he was not sure but was convinced Sexton had the mental strength to bounce back.

“I’m sure there’s some kind of bother there but he’s working hard and he’ll get it right. I’ve no issues with him coming round and getting it right. It depends on the mental strength of that person. We try and work that every kick is the first kick. It doesn’t matter what’s happened, you try and go back to the process time and time again.

“They’re kicking lots and lots of goals in training and they don’t always kick every kick in training, they just move on to the next kick no matter where it is on the field. It’s about going back to that process and as long as you trust in that process and you don’t try and change things in a training session, it will come right.

“Both our main kickers, Ronan and Jonny, are both mentally strong characters and have total belief in their ability and I don’t see a massive issue.”

Tainton pointed to the Irish kickers’ dedication to the cause which saw them training yesterday while the rest of the squad was on a down day and he insisted Ireland had the place-kickers required to be successful at a World Cup. “It is very important and I still believe it is a strength of ours. Our percentages are down but I don’t see us staying in that position. I think we’ll pull them back up quite quickly.”

Sexton is not alone in performing below par with the boot as there were 10 place kickers with success rates below 50% at this World Cup after two rounds of matches, including the usually peerless Jonny Wilkinson.

“The only thing I could see is that the markings on the ball are slightly different to the balls they are used to,” Tainton said of the trend.

“That’s the only thing I can think of as to why they are mis-striking the ball sometimes.”

What was definite, though, in Tainton’s mind, was that the experiment of using O’Gara at fly-half and Sexton at inside centre during the second France warm-up game last month and last Saturday night for 30 minutes against the Wallabies, had been a success.

“It’s an option available to the management. They’ve played a number of games at 10 and 12 and it’s been very strong.

“If you’ve got two players on the pitch with their kicking ability, late in the game it could come down to field position and if you’ve got two very good punters on the field they’ll more than likely put you in good field positions.

“But it’s not just that 10 and 12 combination. Paddy Wallace is another very good footballer at 12 and he gives you a kicking game as well.”