Johnny Sexton still learning as he confirms contract talks to resume after Six Nations

Johnny Sexton: 'Lots of learning' since being made captain. Picture: Brendan Moran/Sportsfile

Johnny Sexton has guarded against Irish over-expectation heading into this season’s Six Nations by insisting his team still have plenty of room for improvement.

The captain and fly-half has led a resurgence in form over the last 11 months as the Ireland team has finally clicked into an attractive, effective, and successful style of play after an at-times difficult transition to the gameplan head coach Andy Farrell envisaged for them when he succeeded Joe Schmidt after the 2019 World Cup.

Ireland will open their 2020 championship campaign at home to title-holders Wales this Saturday as second-favorites with the bookmakers behind France as they bid to continue a winning run that stretched to eight Tests unbeaten after a November sweep of Japan, New Zealand, and Argentina.

Wary of falling into the trap of peaking midway through World Cup cycles as was the case for Schmidt ahead of both the 2015 and 2019 tournaments, both Sexton and Farrell were keen to stress in the immediate aftermath of the Autumn Nations Series that Ireland’s victories, as impressive as they were, should be treated not as a high watermark but merely as a starting point for the squad. 

Yet expectations remain high among the Irish rugby public and yesterday the captain sought to dampen them.

“We hope more is to come, we’re happy with our performances in November but they were by no means perfect,” Sexton said.

“A few things came off in that New Zealand game, a few didn’t. Some of the chances we didn’t take, the tries we conceded — when we look back, and we have looked back, we have said there’s still plenty of room for improvement.

“So, I don’t think the group feels that we’ve nailed it. We’re striving for a new level and hopefully we see that in the next few weeks.”

The same applies to Sexton’s view of his captaincy as the 36-year-old embarks on his third Six Nations at the helm having reached 101 Ireland caps in his last outing in green last November, the 29-20 win over the All Blacks.

Sexton plans to carry on

Johnny Sexton expects to sit down with the IRFU once the Six Nations has finished to discuss extending his contract beyond this season.

The 36-year-old collected his 101st Ireland cap when leading his country to victory over New Zealand last November and the two-time British & Irish Lion is set to embark on his 13th Six Nations campaign and third as captain when Ireland open their championship account at home to Wales on Saturday.

Sexton, who signed a one-year extension to his central contract last March which will expire this summer, has long maintained it is his ambition to play on to the next World Cup in 2023 although it was based on two conditions, that he is still enjoying his rugby and that the IRFU still wants to avail of his services.

The Leinster veteran suggested he was happy with his side of the bargain and was planning to learn the governing body’s view on the matter when he meets with performance director David Nucifora.

“Yeah, I will probably sit down at the end of the Six Nations. That’s the plan and what I always sort of expected,” Sexton said.

“I feel great now, I felt great the last couple of weeks training and the start of the season, but I know that can change.

“My intention is to keep going as long as I’m fit to do so and as long as I’m enjoying it; as long as the people in here want me to. That’s the most important thing for me as well.

“It couldn’t be further from my thoughts at the moment, because this first game is everything.

“Other stuff looks after itself.”

Looking back over his two years since Farrell appointed him skipper following the retirement of Rory Best, Sexton said: “Yeah, lots, lots of learning,” and drew particular attention to his leadership during Ireland’s defeat to France in Paris in October 2020.

Ireland lost the pandemic-delayed game 35-27 at Stade de France and Sexton drew plenty of criticism, some of it from captaincy predecessors, by showing his displeasure at being replaced on 68 minutes.

“There were a lot of lessons from that week, before, after and during,” he said, before later adding of that night: “We didn’t get our prep right and a huge responsibility for that is down to the captain.

"We didn’t get our performance right on the day which probably stems from some of the prep and then obviously some of the stuff that was written about the reaction when you come off.

“Like I explained at the time, as much of it was the disappointment with myself that I didn’t play as I wanted to or the team didn’t play as I wanted us to play.

"But you just can’t let your guard down for a split second or a small mistake like that can be magnified into something huge.

But, again, it makes you stronger and it makes you more prepared to try and bounce back and prove people wrong.

Sexton added: “But apart from that, by and large, it’s been a pretty positive experience and yeah I’ve loved it, I loved every second of it.

“It was a huge honour to be asked to do it and then every time the call comes in before a campaign, you’re always picking up the phone thinking: ‘Is it going to be the good news or the bad news?’ 

"And I’ve managed to keep it and I’m very proud to have done it for as long as I have and I want to keep doing it for as long as I can prove to be the man to do it.

“What do I enjoy about it? I’ve learned to try not to let it pressure me, to look on it as an honour and a privilege, and something that people would kill to do, and that’s how I look on it.

"But sometimes when it can get highly pressured I’d never want it to become a burden, that’s what I’m trying to get at, and it hasn’t and I hope it never will.

“I’m sure there will be challenges like there has been before, but when you’ve got good people around you in the management and in the leadership group and in the players, you’ll come out the other side.”