Skills coach Richie Murphy trusted Johnny Sexton’s long-range ability

Eddie Butler, commentating on Jonathan Sexton’s game-winning kick in Paris for the BBC, said Ireland were only just approaching the point where a drop goal was becoming a possibility when Conor Murray fired the ball back one last time.

Matt Williams, speaking from TV3’s Ballymount studios, just shook his head and thought about the generations of old out-halves who would be thinking that their “skill level was nowhere near doing that on a dry day”, never mind on a wet French sod.

Richie Murphy, though? He was glad Sexton was so far out.