Johnny Sexton on Billy Burns' costly error: 'I said to him 'you've got to go for it' and he did'

The Ireland captain has given his backing to Billy Burns after the Ulster out-half's poor kick cost 14-man Ireland a chance to grab an opening Six Nations win in Cardiff

Ireland's James Lowe consoles Billy Burns after the Ulsterman's costly error ended the game. Picture: INPHO/Tommy Dickson

The sight of Johnny Sexton shaking his head in disgust has become all too familiar on big international match days and the out-half had plenty of cause for invective after 14-man Ireland fell to a narrow defeat in Wales this afternoon.

Billy Burns' last-ditch error wasn't one of them.

The Ulster 10, on the pitch as a replacement for the stricken Leinster player at that point, had the chance to set Ireland up for an injury-time five-metre lineout and possible try that would have stolen the win but his penalty to touch was too long and went dead over the in-goal area.

Wayne Barnes duly blew the final whistle and Burns sank to his knees. Five points short, a metre or so too long.

It was a game riddled with errors. Chief among them was the reckless clearout at a ruck that earned Peter O'Mahony a red card after 14 minutes and left the visitors behind the black ball. This then was a fitting last word but Sexton stood by Burns after the costly mistake.

“I said to him, 'you've got to go for it' and he did. I went for one as well [and missed touch]. When you're chasing a game, you're eight points down or, as Billy was, five points down, you've got to put it five metres out. That's when you score tries.

“If you put it 10 metres out even a good maul rarely gets over. Other days you're the hero when you stick it on the five. It's the life of the number 10. It comes down to small margins. I thought he did very well in the other parts of the game.

“That's one moment but there's plenty through that second half where we could have done better but it's tough with 14 men. As a 10, you have moments when you're a hero and you have moments when you're a villain.

“You put yourself in those moments, that's the responsibility that you have. If you kick the ball to the '22', that's worse for me than trying to stick it five metres out and it not coming off. He'll learn and he'll go again.”

What did get on Sexton's goat was the referee's refusal to show any cards to a Welsh side that infringed a number of times in a manner that might reasonably have curried greater displeasure than a penalty as Ireland attempted their rescue act.

That said, he wasn't using this as a crutch for another loss in Cardiff.

The Ireland captain claimed pride in the manner in which they scored 13 unanswered points so soon after O'Mahony's departure but there were errors galore on both sides in what was an entertaining contest.

Sexton reasoned that mistakes will always happen in international rugby given the pressure involved but, in another breath, he couldn't help but rue many of those sliding door moments that left Andy Farrell's nursing an heroic defeat and not hailing an historic win.

The moment Garry Ringrose spilled a ball inside his own 22 and allowed George North swoop in and launch the Welsh comeback with a try after half-time will be one of the chief causes of wistfulness as they all digest this one.

“It's all small things. I know we say it a lot but we've the exit scrum and we make a great half-break by Garry and on another day the offload sticks and we're attacking again 13-6 up and flying. It's small things.

“You always feel that. You always look at the team and yourself and think there's things you could have done better. At the same time, it was incredible, you wouldn't have known we were playing with 14 men if you were looking at the game so very proud.”

Sexton left the field with just over 10 minutes still to play after his head made contact with the knee of Justin Tipuric. He looked predictably annoyed with that bout of ill-fortune as he departed and a head injury assessment will follow tomorrow.

France arrive in Dublin next Sunday and the veteran is hopeful of greeting them.

“I'm okay now. I obviously got a bang on the head but I feel okay now. I got a bump on the side of the temple but I should hopefully be okay when I go through all the return to play protocols and hopefully I'll be okay to return to training next week.”