6 Nations
Sexton Enjoying Captaincy, But ‘It’s Still A Work In Progress’
He may have 108 Ireland caps under his belt, but beginning an international week with 49 players in camp and two southern hemisphere sides to play at the weekend is a new experience for Jonathan Sexton.
Currently training at the IRFU High Performance Centre, the extended Ireland squad are gearing up for the Ireland ‘A’ team’s clash with the All Blacks XV on Friday, swiftly followed by the main course of Ireland against South Africa the following evening.
It is quite an exercise in logistics to get that many bodies out on the training pitch and ensure quality preparation for both the ‘A’ and senior teams, as the much-anticipated Bank of Ireland Nations Series gets ready for kick-off.
Like the summer tour when Ireland’s fringe players got game-time against the Māori All Blacks, it is a big collective effort and Sexton hopes they can reap the rewards from both fixtures at the RDS and the Aviva Stadium.
“The coaches did a good job,” he said of Tuesday’s well-populated training session. “I wasn’t envisaging how it was going to work, but they did it well in terms of we were almost rotating as teams.
“Almost four teams at the start into two. It was good, it was different. It’s a unique week. We had a unique experience in the summer and now we’ve got another one now with two matches going on. Big game Friday night and then a big game Saturday.
“So it’s good, it’s what we want. We don’t want anything to be the same because you get comfortable then and come the World Cup you’re not ready for anything changing. So, we’re testing ourselves and trying not to keep things too familiar.”
Following on from their historic series win in New Zealand, Andy Farrell’s men are back in the familiar surroundings of the Aviva Stadium, hoping to claim the scalp of the reigning Rugby World Cup champions like their predecessors did.
Ireland boast a proud record of defeating past Webb Ellis Cup holders between tournaments, with memorable victories over Australia (2002), England (2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007), South Africa (2009) and New Zealand (2016 and 2018).
Sexton was involved in those last three triumphs and as he enters the final year of his Test career, the 37-year-old says it still means so much to him to run out with the national team at Irish Rugby HQ.
Every time you get to play at home, in front of the Irish public and family and friends in the Aviva, they’re the most special days of your career.
“It’s something you never take lightly. Again, when you come towards the end (of your career), it’s even more special. You try and cherish it even more.
“But the nerves are still there, the excitement is still there. So it’s not that much different to how it usually is.”
The St. Mary’s College clubman got some decent match minutes into his legs with Leinster in recent weeks, including full games against both the Cell C Sharks and Munster.
He is looking forward to taking on South Africa for the first time since 2017, especially after missing out on last year’s British & Irish Lions tour. Of course, the sides’ Rugby World Cup pool game next year looms large on the horizon.
“I feel good. In the first two games of the season, you’re always expecting a couple of mistakes in a lot of parts of the game, and I definitely had them in the first couple of games.
“It’s important I learn from them, build on what was good and try to put it all together on Saturday. If we got a win on Saturday, it would be great. If we didn’t, we’d learn from it.
“We’re going to learn both ways, we’re going to learn about South Africa, see what it’s like to play against this type of team. We haven’t played against them in a few years. I think it’s what we need.
“They’re in our group obviously in the World Cup and we just need to make sure that we take learnings from it, win, lose or draw. But we’re going out there to try and win the game, don’t get me wrong.”
Sexton has been Ireland’s captain since the start of the Andy Farrell era in early 2020. His winning ratio as skipper is an impressive 78%, the highpoints so far coming this year with the Triple Crown and New Zealand tour success.
Always striving to improve as a player and a leader, he said: “I enjoy it (the captaincy). There is a lot of extra responsibility and extra meetings, making sure you’re on top of the leadership group, making sure you’re organising different things.
“If I didn’t have it, I’d miss it. At times you go, ‘do I need it?’, but yeah, I think I do. I’m enjoying it. It’s still a work in progress, I don’t think anyone’s ever going to be the perfect captain.
“There’s part of my leadership that I need to work on, and there’s parts that are good. It’s just about getting feedback and making sure you’re always striving to improve.”
The Dubliner, who has captained Leinster since 2018, admits he is fortunate to have a strong group of trusty lieutenants around him, a number of whom have captained their provinces or grown into leadership roles. He added:
I lean heavily on the guys around me. You work well as a team, there’s guys that have come out of themselves like Tadhg Furlong. He’s really come out of his shell over the last couple of years.
“He kind of got ‘put’ in the leadership group – I don’t think he wanted anything to do with it! – but he got put in there and he got forced into leading and he’s doing an amazing job.
“James Ryan has captained Ireland, Garry Ringrose has captained Leinster, Iain Henderson captain of Ulster, Pete (O’Mahony) captain of Munster, so it’s a good group. It makes my job much easier, we do it as a team.”
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) is delighted to announce the return of the ‘A’ Interprovincial Men’s Championship which will kick off next month.
The times and dates of the opening three rounds of the Championship before Christmas have been confirmed, with a similar points-scoring system as used in the URC. A Championship winner will be declared after the final round of matches in May and the IRFU will be commissioning a legacy trophy to mark the 150th anniversary celebrations.
Welcoming the news, IRFU Performance Director David Humphreys commented:
“We’re delighted to kick-start the Men’s ‘A’ Interprovincial Championship which will provide a host of players with a further means of developing in a meaningful competition. With the success of the Emerging Ireland Tours, coupled with the return of an ‘A’ international against England next year, it is vital that we continue to provide players at provincial and Club levels with opportunities to impress outside of the traditional URC and EPCR fixture windows.
“Discussions have been ongoing for some time to provide players with meaningful games and all four provinces are unanimously supportive of this competition. It is also great to see provinces taking matches around their local Clubs.
“It is anticipated that as the competition progresses over the coming seasons these fixtures won’t clash with Energia All-Ireland League fixtures for the most part, thus potentially also offering players from the Club game with an opportunity to impress.
“This competition will form another important part of the representative pathway from Energia AIL to URC levels for Academy players upwards over the coming seasons.”
The dates for the post-Christmas fixtures will be confirmed in due course. Ticket details will be confirmed via the respective provinces.
IRFU 150 Interprovincial ‘A’ Championship Fixtures:
Saturday, 16th November:
Connacht Eagles v Leinster ‘A’ (Creggs RFC, 1pm)
Friday, 22nd November:
Ulster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (Ballymacaran Park, 3pm), Leinster ‘A’ v Munster ‘A’ (Lakelands, 5pm)
Friday, 29th November:
Munster ‘A’ v Ulster ‘A’ (New Ormond Park, 3pm)
Friday, 20th December:
Ulster ‘A’ v Munster ‘A’ (tbc, 3pm)
Saturday, 21st December:
Leinster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (Ollie Campbell Park, 2pm)
Weekend of 28/29 December:
Connacht Eagles v Ulster ‘A’ (tbc), Munster ‘A’ v Leinster ‘A’ (tbc)
Weekend of 9/10 May:
Connacht Eagles v Munster ‘A’ (tbc), Leinster ‘A’ v Ulster ‘A’ (tbc)
Weekend of 16/17 May:
Munster ‘A’ v Connacht Eagles (tbc), Ulster ‘A’ v Leinster ‘A’ (tbc)
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
The Emerging Ireland team to face the Cheetahs in the final game of the three-match series in Bloemfontein on Wednesday evening (kick off 6pm Irish time, 7pm local time) has been named.
Leinster’s James Culhane will lead the team and he forms a new back-row alongside Harry Sheridan and Sean Edogbo, who makes his first start of the tour having come on as a replacement in the 29-24 win over Western Force on Sunday afternoon. Former Ireland Under-20 captain Evan O’Connell locks down with Darragh Murray, who featured in the opening 36-24 victory over the Pumas, with Alex Usanov named in the front row alongside hooker Stephen Smyth and Jack Aungier.
Darragh Murray of Emerging Ireland scores his sides second try – Mandatory Credit ©INPHO/Steve Haag Sports/Darren Stewart
In the backline, Sam Prendergast starts his third game of the tour at out-half and he will be partnered by Cormac Foley, who featured as a second half replacements against the Australian Super Rugby side last time out. Connacht’s Hugh Gavin forms a midfield partnership with Hugh Cooney, with Ulster’s Zac Ward named in an exciting back tree alongside the returning Ben O’Connor at full-back and Andrew Osborne who moves to the right wing.
Munster loosehead prop George Hadden, who was called up to the squad last weekend, is set to make his first appearance after being named on the bench alongside Conor O’Tighearnaigh and Alex Soroka who started Sunday’s win. Hadden’s provincial team-mate Danny Sheahan provides cover once more at hooker, while Scott Wilson and Charlie Tector are also named on the bench for the Toyota Stadium clash alongside out-half Jack Murphy.
Looking ahead to the game, Emerging Ireland Head Coach Simon Easterby said: “When we set out at the beginning of our pre-camp in Dublin, we knew about the challenge of facing three sides in a week and we knew that every player in the group would have the opportunity to play his part. To a man each player has given his all so far and we are aiming to finish off the series with another positive performance on Wednesday.
The Cheetahs are a fiercely proud and strong side and it should be a lively game with a vocal home support behind them. It has been a fruitful past few weeks to date and we have learned a lot. While our performances haven’t been perfect, the players have embraced the challenge and played some brilliant rugby at times. The action has come thick and fast and we know that we have to be clinical in our execution. We will need to go up another level on Wednesday to get the performance we want and hopefully finish the tour on a high.”
Wednesday’s game will be broadcast once more on IrishRugby+ – click here.
Emerging Ireland (v The Cheetahs, Wednesday, October 9, 7pm local time, 6pm Irish time)
15: Ben O’Connor (UCC RFC/Munster)
14: Andrew Osborne (Naas RFC/Leinster)
13: Hugh Cooney (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
12: Hugh Gavin (Galwegians RFC/Connacht)
11: Zac Ward (Ballynahinch RFC/Ulster/Ireland Sevens)
10: Sam Prendergast (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
9: Cormac Foley (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
1: Alex Usanov (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
2: Stephen Smyth (Old Wesley RFC/Leinster)
3: Jack Aungier (Clontarf FC/Connacht)
4: Evan O’Connell (Young Munster RFC/Munster)
5: Darragh Murray (Buccaneers RFC/Connacht)
6: Harry Sheridan (Dublin University FC/Ulster)
7: Sean Edogbo (UCC RFC/Munster)
8: James Culhane (UCD RFC/Leinster) (captain)
Replacements:
16: Danny Sheahan (Cork Constitution FC/Munster)
17: George Hadden (Garryowen FC/Munster)
18: Scott Wilson (Queen’s University Belfast RFC/Ulster)
19: Conor O’Tighearnaigh (UCD RFC/Leinster)
20: Alex Soroka (Clontarf FC/Leinster)
21: Matthew Devine (Corinthians RFC/Connacht)
22: Jack Murphy (Clontarf FC/Ulster)
23: Charlie Tector (Lansdowne FC/Leinster)
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
Following Emerging Ireland’s 29-24 victory over Western Force in Bloemfontein on Sunday three players, Gus McCarthy (Leinster), Sean O’Brien (Munster) and Jude Postlethwaite (Ulster) will return to their provinces.
The trio will leave South Africa on Monday afternoon and will be available for selection for their respective URC fixtures this weekend.
The squad will visit Heidedal Township this afternoon and will conclude the three-match series on Wednesday evening against The Cheetahs (kick off 7pm local, 6pm Irish time). That match will be live on irishrugby+
Watch the full match back here on irishrugby+
Check out the highlights from the win against Western Force below.
Images & Content from Irish Rugby & Images © Inpho Photography
IRFU Announces Return Of ‘A’ Interprovincial Championship
Squad Update | Munster Prepare For All Blacks XV At Thomond
