Ireland must earn All Blacks’ respect again but Sexton wary of ref Barnes

Chicago, November 2016 will forever be seared into the minds of Irish rugby supporters, for obvious reasons. The place and time of a first victory over New Zealand in 111 years has that effect and it was a moment to be savoured.

Johnny Sexton will have felt exactly the same after those heroics at Soldier Field but it was the rematch two weeks later back in Dublin, and the way the All Blacks reacted to their defeat by exacting their brutal retribution in a 21-9 revenge mission, that made Ireland’s fly-half realise they were being afforded the ultimate mark of respect.