Sexton: Our chance to go down in history

Lions to treat today’s second Test as cup final and seal first series win since 1997

As far as Jonathan Sexton and his fellow British & Irish Lions are concerned, the third Test against Australia might not as well exist.

Today’s second encounter is where they believe a first series victory in 16 years can be sealed and they dare not allow themselves to think about the safety net of a decider in Sydney seven days from now.

At 1-0 up following that nailbiting opening victory over the Wallabies in Brisbane last Saturday, the Lions hold all the trump cards in this series.

Having already beaten their hosts, Sexton is aiming to finish the job in Melbourne today.

“We’re trying to look at it as a one-off game, a cup final I suppose,” the Ireland fly-half said yesterday. “We don’t have that luxury [of a third-Test fall-back]. We have to go out and try and grasp it this week.”

The thought of bridging a 16-year gap to the 1997 Lions and their success over the Springboks is a tantalising one that has been impossible to ignore, but while acknowledging it, Sexton said the squad was intent on not letting the prospect overwhelm either their preparations or performance.

“The nerves are going. As a player you want to be remembered when you hang up the boots and be talked about in years to come.

“This is our chance on a British & Irish Lions scale. If we win a Test series, no one can take it away from you and we’ll forever be remembered for it.

“That brings with it responsibility and a lot of nerves. But when we get out there it’ll be like any other game, albeit with bigger rewards if you can do the business.

“There’s not many who have done it. It’s a chance to put yourself into the history books in many ways. A lot of people have done it at club level, a few have done it in Grand Slams and at international level but none of us here have done it with the British & Irish Lions. It’ll be a pretty special dressing room if we can do the business.

“We talked about little things like that early in the week to put it in the mind but it’ll very much be down to our performance on the pitch and trying to produce that because talking about making history is not going to win you the game. It’s about executing the moves and the game plan, being good in defence and stopping their threats.”

Sexton, who turns 28 in 12 days, may not be the Lions’ designated goal-kicker on this tour, with full-back Leigh Halfpenny in such rich form, but his playmaking ability is key to the side’s success in Melbourne.

The tourists’ backs coach, Rob Howley, is confident the former Racing Metro-bound fly-half can point his team in the right direction come kick-off time.

“Jonny has been very composed. He’s been a navigator, and he has worked very well with all the half-backs. Him and [substitute fly-half] Owen Farrell have got on. They have shared ideas. Jonny has been very open-minded in terms of the way we would like to play. As coaches you have to be open-minded and learn off players as well and I think that Jonny’s game is in a good place.

“I thought his kicking game last week was outstanding in terms of whether he went long or went to the air and I think he can offer something different in terms of being a running threat as well, and I think we want both our 10s to be flat and attacking the gain line and Jonny has demonstrated that for both Ireland and Leinster over the last couple of years.

“He’s fulfilled his potential and they are on the cusp of hopefully achieving what they haven’t achieved [before].”

Of course, Australia will have some say in the matter and Sexton is mindful of a wounded Wallaby in this do or die situation and wary of the fact that they rebounded from similar circumstances to win the series in 2001.

“They are obviously going to throw everything at us, but we knew that they were going to do that last week and they will do it next week as well,” Sexton said.

“That is Test match rugby, you would expect nothing else, especially with the Australians 1-0 down. I know it was 12 years ago but we have to try to learn the lessons from then as well.

“If they win the second Test then they have got the momentum, whereas we have got the chance now and we have to try to take it.

“It was a little bit stop-start last week with the injuries, there were a lot of breakdowns in the play. I think this week is going to be an even bigger step up.”