Johnny Sexton's reaction to historic win over All Blacks on NZ soil
Captain Johnny Sexton hailed a “very, very special day” for the whole of Ireland following a historic victory over New Zealand in Dunedin.
The impressive Irish set up a tantalising deciding Test in Wellington by levelling the series at 1-1 with a first away win over the formidable All Blacks.
Andrew Porter’s pair of tries paved the way for the landmark 23-12 triumph, with influential fly-half Sexton kicking 13 points to prevent a Kiwi fightback.
Out-of-sorts New Zealand, who coasted to a 42-19 opening win last weekend in Auckland, paid a heavy price for a disjointed and undisciplined display.
Their repeated indiscretions included replacement prop Angus Ta’avao receiving a 31st-minute red card for ploughing into the head of Garry Ringrose after Leicester Fainga’anuku and Ofa Tu’ungafasi had each been sin-binned.
“Any time you create a little bit of history it means a lot,” said Sexton. “It’s a very, very special day for everyone in the country.
“We talk a lot about making people at home feel very proud of us and it’s right at the top of our lists.
“I’m unbelievably happy with the win. No Irish team has ever done it before and it’s all on the line next week.”
Ireland’s momentous victory at Forsyth Barr Stadium followed 12 previous defeats on New Zealand soil.
Loosehead prop Porter powered over inside three minutes to give the tourists a dream start and an advantage they would never surrender.
Yet Andy Farrell’s men only led 10-7 at the end of a chaotic first half in which the All Blacks had replacement prop Ta’avao deservedly dismissed and lost Tu’ungafasi and Fainga’anuku for 10-minute spells.
Beauden Barrett’s improvised score brought the hosts back within touching distance, while a yellow card for Ireland vice-captain James Ryan temporarily evened up the numbers going into the second period.
Sexton, who satisfied concussion protocols to start and also played down concerns about “tweaking” a knee late on, admitted he feared the worst during the interval.
“The effort we put in last week, we didn’t get the rewards,” said the Leinster man, who turns 37 on Monday.
“Same effort again this week and it was touch and go at times – at half-time, I thought ‘oh my God’.
“But the reaction in the second half was superb; to score with 14 men, to bounce back like we did was great and we stayed in the moment.
“By no means was it perfect – we feel we could have played better in parts – but a very special day.”
Porter’s second try – only his fourth at international level – just after the restart calmed nerves before Sexton’s flawless kicking display guided the Irish home, prior to Will Jordan’s consolation try.
Head coach Farrell was left beaming with pride following the headline-grabbing performance of his “courageous” players.
“We talk a lot about inspiring people back home and these lads they keep turning up and knocking down doors,” he said.
“The most special thing about tonight is no other Irish side will get the chance to do that again, will they?
“We didn’t get sucked into the allure of the game of 13 men, 14 men, trying to play from everywhere. We kept them pinned down and the territory gain and the game control was outstanding.
“It was a courageous effort. We kept playing the right game and the right parts of the field and applying pressure and I’m just so proud of them.
“There’s a series to be won and we’ve earned the right to have a go at that.”
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Nah, that just needs some more variation. Chip kicks, grubber stabs, all those. Will Jordan showed a pretty good reason why the rush was bad for his link up with BB.
If you have an overlap on a rush defense, they naturally cover out and out and leave a huge gap near the ruck.
It also helps if both teams play the same rules. ARs set the offside line 1m past where the last mans feet were😅
Go to commentsYeah nar, should work for sure. I was just asking why would you do it that way?
It could be achieved by outsourcing all your IP and players to New Zealand, Japan, and America, with a big Super competition between those countries raking it in with all of Australia's best talent to help them at a club level. When there is enough of a following and players coming through internally, and from other international countries (starting out like Australia/without a pro scene), for these high profile clubs to compete without a heavy australian base, then RA could use all the money they'd saved over the decades to turn things around at home and fund 4 super sides of their own that would be good enough to compete.
That sounds like a great model to reset the game in Aus. Take a couple of decades to invest in youth and community networks before trying to become professional again. I just suggest most aussies would be a bit more optimistic they can make it work without the two decades without any pro club rugby bit.
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