It's never just one thing... Johnny Sexton teases out Chicago's flat feeling

Sexton suggested the recent retirements of five Test centurions, including himself, Peter O'Mahony, Conor Murray, Keith Earls and Cian Healy has had an impact on the Ireland squad. 

What Johnny Sexton saw in Ireland training over the last fortnight was not reflected in the performance against the All Blacks. Pic: ©INPHO/Henry Simpson

While the 26-13 scoreline from Soldier Field was disturbing as Ireland folded to New Zealand on a day to forget in Chicago, they were not the only numbers to give pause for thought at the outset of this month-long Test window.

Zero line breaks against the All Blacks was just as concerning for Andy Farrell and his assistants as they returned to the training field at the IRFU High Performance Centre on Tuesday ahead of a three-game homestand at Aviva Stadium against Japan, Australia and world champions South Africa.

The lack of attacking penetration underlines the sense that Ireland are a shadow of their former selves, not least in 2022 and 2023 when they topped the world rankings and swept all before them until a fateful night in Paris and a narrow World Cup quarter-final defeat to the New Zealanders.

Johnny Sexton understands why it may look like that. The veteran fly-half was at the heart of that potent Irish attack back then, the last-eight loss at Stade de France two years ago his final act as a player. Yet what he has seen in camp already these past couple of weeks as one of Farrell’s assistant coaches is at odds with the rugby produced Stateside. He is convinced Ireland are close to clicking back into top gear when it matters, on the pitch in big matches.

“That's the most disappointing thing, because what we saw in training for the last two weeks wasn't what was reflected on Saturday,” Sexton said. “So if you looked at those first two weeks, you'd say we're not far away at all. If you looked at Saturday, you'd say we're miles away but we're hoping that we'll show something a bit different against Japan and in the last two games as well.

“We're doing a lot of work behind the scenes and making sure that that part of the game is as good as it's ever been… We're talking about it a lot and I think it will (click).” 

Sexton suggested the recent retirements of five Test centurions, including himself, who played pivotal roles both on the field and in camp was taking some adjustment for the players left behind to fly the flag for Ireland.

“There's always going to be a bit of transition when you lose the number of caps and experience that you have in probably the key positions. Like if you go, Peter O'Mahony, Cian Healy, Keith Earls, myself, Conor Murray, that's probably close to 600 caps.

“So you take that out of the building, of course, there's going to be a little bit of teething, but there wasn't a problem when they won the Six Nations in 2024. Last year's Six Nations we slipped up towards the end, particularly against a very good French team. But, the results in the other games were quite good, but the performance against Italy wasn't great.

“If you take the whole since 2023, there's been some amazing victories. We talk about France away (in 2024), a record victory. So, it's just getting that consistency now, is the key.

“Could the performance be better? Of course, even at the heights of the team (in 2022-23), we always felt like we had things to work on as well. A couple of good wins and a couple of good performances will change the narrative pretty quick, I'm sure.” 

The visit of an Eddie Jones-coached Japan side smashed 61-7 by the Springboks at Wembley on Saturday appears to present the perfect opportunity to get the storyline heading back in a more positive direction, albeit with some different personnel than the line-up which faced the All Blacks in Chicago.

Head coach Farrell is set to reveal his side on Thursday and Sexton suggested there would be rotation to the Ireland selection but not wholesale changes.

“It'll be a bit of both. It’s a bit of giving guys a chance, for sure. Some of it will be selection, guys will get a chance because others didn't play that well at the weekend.

“So it's always a mixture, isn't it? We need to make sure we pick a team that goes out, first of all, and tries to win the game. It's a really important game for us, as all these games are, with regards to rankings and with the World Cup draw coming up.

“So picking a team to win, first and foremost, but at the same time, Andy knows that in two years' time, we're going to a World Cup and we need to have 40 players ready to ready to go.” 

There will certainly be an element of needing to right the wrongs of a disappointing Chicago performance that saw Ireland outclassed in the final 20 minutes but Sexton said there was not one simple fix to work on.

“It can't be just one thing. It’s a little bit of everything. That’s a couple of penalties, a couple of inaccuracies in our attack, a couple of kicks, a couple of missed tackles. It’s not one thing, it never is, and it's about just figuring out why, because that's the most important thing, so we can learn from it and it doesn't happen again.

“It's trying to turn the page, really, taking the lessons. Andy's always very good at that when you're in the environment, he always reframes things, we move on pretty quick, but he also keeps us accountable and makes us realise that it wasn't good enough. And sometimes it can happen like that and we understand that. And sometimes you can put it down to prep or do guys take their eye off the ball a bit, but it's just didn't go to plan on the day and we've got some good reasons for that now and we'll make sure that it doesn't happen again."