IRFU statement: Johnny Sexton signs new deal through to age of 38
Ireland captain Johnny Sexton has signed a contract extension up until the end of the 2023 World Cup. The Leinster fly-half, who has won 103 caps for his country, will be 38 by the time of next year’s tournament in France.
“I always said that if I am enjoying my rugby - and the Ireland and Leinster set-ups believe I can add value to the environment - then it would be an easy decision to sign another contract,” he said in a statement on the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) website.
Sexton made his international debut against Fiji in November 2009 and represented Ireland at the 2011, 2015 and 2019 World Cups. The 2018 world player of the year has also twice toured with the British and Irish Lions, in 2013 and 2017, in addition to winning three Six Nations titles, plus four European Champions Cups with Leinster.
“There is some great talent coming through at Leinster at present and I am excited about the prospect of competing at a fourth World Cup with Ireland and the potential for growth in this group between now and then,” he added.
Sexton is pushing for a recall to Ireland’s starting XV for Saturday’s Guinness Six Nations clash with title rivals England. He came off the bench in the round-three win over Italy having overcome the minor hamstring injury which kept him out of the loss to France.
IRFU performance director David Nucifora added: “Johnny’s performances continue to be of the highest standard and he remains an integral member of the Ireland and Leinster squads.
“He has always been a leader on the field and in the past two years, since taking on the Ireland captaincy, his leadership off it has been top class. Johnny is a generational player and we are delighted that he has extended to 2023.”
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Finau is definitely operating on razor thin margins. He hasn’t done anything wrong… yet. But a player going into contact 6 inches lower than he is expecting, without him even knowing, will end in disaster. You can imagine a situation where the pass dies on Edmed and he has to bend down a little lower to catch it at the last second. Finau’s hit would have been catastrophic. The margins are just too fine. He needs to study how PSDT, at 6’7”, manages to drop his tackle height and exert just as much force with close zero danger of taking someone’s head off. Given how poorly NZ has adapted to lower their tackle height, and that this issue which has plagued the ABs for years and played a big part in them not winning the World Cup, I thought NZR and all SR coaches would be prioritising sorting this issue out. If I was Razor I would be on the phone to Clayton MacMillan and Samipeni Finau saying exactly that. Finau is a monster and shaping up to be the closest thing to Kaino since Kaino, but I wouldn’t risk selecting him for the ABs at the moment.
Go to commentsThe surprising stat I saw in the Blues game when showing Sotutu equaling the Blues forwards record was that Akira has not scored a try since 2019. Now my memory is pretty bad when it comes to those sorts of the things, I can remember his AB try though, but anyway I can’t see I can remember his last blues touchdown or any in recent years. Surely that still has to be a bogus stat. Maybe excludes SRA games?
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