Hakas at half-seven: Sexton reminded of his first experience of New Zealand rugby

There was a time when Johnny Sexton’s schoolboy half-back partner in Japan was Vinny Hammond.

Fast-forward 16 years into the week of a World Cup quarter-final and Hammond is still by Sexton’s side, as an IRFU performance analyst. But now the scrum-half is Conor Murray and he and Sexton are set to break Peter Stringer and Ronan O’Gara’s record of 55 Tests together as an Irish half-back partnership when they face the All Blacks this Saturday.