Murray hails Sexton record: 'Rog won’t be happy'

Conor Murray paid tribute to his fellow centurion on setting the new Ireland test points record

EMOTIONS: Ireland’s Jonathan Sexton celebrates. Pic: ©INPHO/Laszlo Geczo

It was almost a throwback to the two great fly-halves' rivalry for the Ireland number 10 jersey a decade ago as Johnny Sexton passed Ronan O’Gara’s Irish-record Test points total on Saturday night.

“Rog won’t be happy!” Conor Murray said when asked for a reaction to his half-back partner’s passing of his former Munster team-mate’s milestone, while Sexton was unsure if he was even on speaking terms with the Corkman following a feisty Champions Cup final between the Ireland captain’s Leinster and O’Gara’s La Rochelle.

Yet the figures are there in black and white. Sexton, set to retire at the end of the World Cup, scored a try, a penalty and four conversions against Tonga, a 16-point haul that took him past O’Gara’s 1,083 total completed over 128 caps between 2000 and 2013.

Sexton, 38, passed the mark in his 115th Ireland appearance, just under 14 years after his 2009 Test debut and marked it with a try in a wonderful 40-minute performance before he was withdrawn from the fray ahead of this Saturday’s clash with South Africa.

No-one could have been happier for their skipper than fellow Test centurion Murray.

“Yeah, looking back at it now, obviously no one had a clue,” Murray said of the moment Sexton touched down and celebrated in style. “We knew it was getting close, but it was brilliant.

“I’m very close with Johnny, I see how hard he works and how hard he prepares the team. So yeah, another accolade for a man very deserving of it.” 

Ross Byrne was the man who replaced Sexton at half-time, contributing a further four conversions once Ireland overcame a tricky third quarter and he paid tribute to the Leinster team-mate he has backed up for season after season.

“To be fair to him, he deserves it, he’s been absolutely incredible for well over a 10-year period. I’m delighted for him,” Byrne said. “There is not really much I can say about him... he’s got plenty more to go in the next few weeks.

“That’s the thing, he’s been doing it for so long. The longevity he’s had has been incredibly impressive. Very few, if anyone else, who has done that. It is remarkable.” 

Ireland boss Andy Farrell had been unsure of when his captain actually moved past O’Gara’s mark, believing it may have come with his third conversion but was delighted Sexton had done so with a try.

"I think it was fitting. He had nine points and equalled the record, didn't he, before he scored the try. That's what I was trying to find out with Vinny (Hammond), our analyst, and two minutes later he scored under the posts.

“You just knew when we got held up and we were set to play that play, it was something we practised during the week. He knows which ones to follow and he followed Conor (Murray) really well. It's so fitting that he broke the record with a try like that.

"But what I would say and I've said to Johnny in front of the lads in there, he can talk for himself, but the record is fantastic. He'd say that's his job but it takes some doing. To us, as a leader, as a player, he's a lot more than a points-scoring machine for Ireland how he prepares his team and gets them up for every single game is more important to him and certainly to us."

Sexton himself admitted breaking O’Gara’s record would mean more to his son Luca than him.

The fly-half’s celebrations as he scored his try suggested it meant an awful lot more than he intimated in his post-match press conference. He even suggested his nine-year-old son Luca would be setting his sights on surpassing his father’s new record.

"I was just happy to score the try. I think one of the lads said it to me under the posts and I actually thought I had got it on the kick before,” Sexton said.

“It's something when you retire and finish, you can look back and be proud. I think my little boy will be over the moon, he was talking about it during the week and it probably means more to him.

“He'll chase it down now! And so will the other 10s. It's there to be broken now and I'm sure some young guys will be eyeing it up. Look, I’m very proud to do it but tonight was about getting the win and moving onto what’s such a massive game now this week.” 

Asked if the former record holder had been in touch to pass on his congratulations, Sexton said: “I haven’t checked my phone yet… I’ve no idea! Ask him. I’m not sure we’re talking to each other after the European Cup final,” Sexton said with a laugh. “No, I’m sure he will.”