'To get better is to win a championship or a Grand Slam' - Sexton not shying away from team aim
MARCHING ON: Ireland's Jonathan Sexton celebrates with his children.
Johnny Sexton declared Ireland would not shy away from their ambition to win the Guinness Six Nations title and a Grand Slam following their statement bonus-point victory over France in Dublin on Saturday.
SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP
Your home for the latest news, views and analysis of this year's Six Nations Championship from our award winning sports team.
SIX NATIONS CHAMPIONSHIP
Your home for the latest news, views and analysis of this year's Six Nations Championship from our award winning sports team.
Ireland handed last year’s Grand Slam winners their heaviest defeat in a 32-19 win at a sold-out Aviva Stadium, eclipsing France’s 24-13, 11-point loss to England in Paris in 2008 and also brought an end to a 14-Test winning streak for Fabien Galthie’s team.
The victory also extends Ireland’s own unbeaten home run to 13 matches and while restricting the French to just three second-half points they also denied their title rivals a losing bonus point, the first time Les Bleus have finished a game without match points since losing to Scotland away in 2020.
A pulsating encounter in which Ireland edged the first half 22-16 through excellent tries from Hugo Keenan, James Lowe and Andrew Porter that were eclipsed by a wonder score from French wing Damian Penaud gave way to a more disjointed second half but Sexton’s team managed the closing period superbly, the captain having been withdrawn with a groin injury on 48 minuntes and Garry Ringrose secured the fourth try for a bonus point with eight minutes remaining.
It means Ireland have taken a maximum 10 match points from their first two games of this season’s championship following their 34-10 opening-round win in Wales with a trip to Rome to play Italy on February 25 next on the schedule as Andy Farrell’s men go in search of a first Six Nations title since the 2018 Grand Slam.
Asked if title talk was a distraction, Sexton said: “Well, look it’s clear from the start what we want to achieve.
“It goes unsaid but everyone knows what we want to do. We won a Triple Crown last year and we want to go better this year. We speak about keeping the upward trajectory as opposed to 2019 when we dipped.
“So to get better is to win a championship or a Grand Slam. How you do that is concentrate on the next two weeks and try to beat Italy away, which obviously, if you saw last week’s game (when they lost narrowly to France), you know how tough it’s going to be.”
Sexton also paid tribute to his half-back partner Conor Murray, who started at scrum-half just days after his father Gerry, a cyclist, was seriously injured in a road traffic accident near his home in Patrickswell, Co. Limerick. With his father in hospital in Cork, Murray continued to deputise for the injured Jamison Gibson-Park and his resilience impressed the captain.
“Unbelievable really, isn’t it. It’s a mark of the character and the player. In my eyes he’s always been a class operator and he’s always been world class in his position. Amazing that he could show up today and be so calm and put in the performance that he did.”
As pleased as head coach Farrell was, he would not be drawn on whether the victory over France had laid down a marker to Ireland’s Test rivals ahead of the 2023 World Cup in France this autumn.
“I don’t know,” Farrell said.
“Honestly, I know it’s boring for you guys but we’re just on to the next one. We are. Because the same points are available against Italy.
“To be honest, I’m unbelievably proud of the character, the fight, everything we showed of what’s gone on during the week, how we’ve managed our way through setbacks – Johnny coming off and other people getting injured.
“In reality, they’re an honest group. It reminded me a little of the first Test against the All Blacks. We get held up over the line two or three times and times when we could have converted a little bit better and took a little bit more pressure of ourselves. I think that’s a good thing for us going forward.”
Ireland’s win came at a cost with hooker Rob Herring failing a Head Injury Assessment following a head shot from Uini Atonio that earned the France prop a yellow card from referee Wayne Barnes that could easily have been a straight red. Farrell also lost lock Tadhg Beirne to a possible ankle or lower leg injury in the second half with the head coach far from optimistic about the Munster forward’s prospects of a rapid return to fitness.
“Not looking too great at this moment in time. We’ll see tomorrow.”
For France came the loss of their long unbeaten run which started in November 2021 and included the Grand Slam in 2022.
Head coach Galthie said his team had been “lacking freshness” and added: “Our kicking game was a bit off and we lacked energy.
"It is almost two years since we have lost. It is hard to take. The series of wins are there, now it is necessary to learn how to take a defeat. Defeat is not really a friend, but we will have to spend the day with her.
“We came to play and win the match. Like every match, we worked hard for it but our adversary beat us. We really needed to keep control territorially."
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