Johnny Sexton’s tactical genius made Beauden Barrett look ‘second best’

"That guy has got a lot of clubs in the bag, aye?"

On Saturday night, rolling into Sunday morning, a rewatch of Ireland vs. New Zealand in the Second Test made three Irish players in particular look even better. Josh van der Flier, Tadhg Beirne and Johnny Sexton all had superb games. In the cut and thrust of covering these games live, you scan and scan, take as many notes as you can and, at the same time, try to get a feel for the flow of the game and the big plays. It is an inexact science [as anyone ever irked by a player rating may attest to] but the rewatch is your friend here. To that end, van der Flier was elevated from an 8 to a 9/10, in our ratings, and we thought long and hard about a 6/10 for James Lowe [iffy in attack] before sticking with 7 [tremendous defence, and work-rate]. With Johnny Sexton, watching games back a second or a third time will really give you an appreciation for a master at his craft. He rarely has a bad game, is mostly in the 'very good' range and, like he was on Saturday in Dunedin, has games where he looks like he has the ball on a string. There were so many excellent moments from the Ireland outhalf, in the Second Test, but his decision-making and passing were ridiculously crisp. We wanted to pay special attention to a couple of key moments in the lead-up to Andrew Porter's two tries. [caption id="attachment_266751" align="aligncenter" width="800"] Ireland players, from left, Caelan Doris, Johnny Sexton, and Tadhg Furlong celebrate their side's Second Test victory against New Zealand. (Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile)[/caption]

Johnny Sexton orchestrates Ireland opener

After a couple of line-breaks in short succession, Ireland were in the All Blacks' 22, had a penalty coming their way and were threatening another early try. When Sexton received the ball from Jamison Gibson-Park, there was a 4 vs. 4 situation. Sexton immediately shortened those odds by making a diagonal carry and doing a pump-fake pass that drew Beauden Barrett [covering the wing] out. As he so often does, because he is a ball threat himself, Sexton had drawn in both Ardie Savea (8) and Leicester Fainga'anuku (11). It left Mack Hansen with a dart at fullback Jordie Barrett, and with Peter O'Mahony inside him. The Connacht winger could have stayed wide and passed back into O'Mahony but cut inside, was stopped by Barrett and the chance, for now, was gone. O'Mahony found unbelievable leg strength to brace himself and stay in play. Caelan Doris arrived to help and Hansen played scrumhalf, finding Sexton. The attack was still alive. Sexton popped up three more times in the next 45 seconds, crucially with the try assist pass - putting a charging Porter on Quinn Tupaea's soft shoulder - and Ireland were off and rocking. https://twitter.com/SportsJOEdotie/status/1545668676350795778

Putting Beirne and Bundee away

We jump all the way ahead to the 47th minute and, with the James Ryan sin-bin nearly over, Ireland are looking to add to their 10-7 advantage. The first beautiful Sexton pass comes as he skips out Caelan Doris and fires to Bundee Aki, who is peeling around the outside. This time it is Rieko Ioane (13) and Fainga'anuku (11) forced to buy what the Ireland playmaker is selling. Aki is off and away. Sexton has run a support on Aki's inside shoulder but the centre takes the tackle, inside the Kiwi 22, and Ireland recycle. Sexton is seeing the game in slow motion now as he drops back for the pass and, with most eyes in defence tracking right for a sweeping backline move, he cuts the pass back to Tadhg Beirne, who then skittles Jordie Barrett. There are still a few tough phases Ireland need to get through before Porter spots George Bower getting caught in a ruck at the posts and sitting back on the tryline. Patrick Tuipulotu and Tupaea arrive to try repel Porter, but van der Flier has latched on and the loosehead bashes over to ground the ball. [caption id="attachment_266952" align="aligncenter" width="1280"] Bundee Aki (L) and Johnny Sexton (R) of Ireland chat during the Second Test win over New Zealand. (Photo by Phil Walter/Getty Images)[/caption]

'Johnny Sexton was a bit of a puppeteer'

Of all the different aspects of Johnny Sexton's game that he had to nail - and he was spot-on in every aspect barring a penalty kick for the sideline that did not go into touch - his passing was the highlight. That and his composure when others were losing their heads and bodies were flailing everywhere. Sexton is known for playing a higher attacking line, but there is not as much talk about his range of passes and the timing of his release, too. On Saturday, it was prose, poetry and BIG BOLD TYPE all rolled into one. It was nice to see the 37-year-old get some praise from the New Zealand media, too. On the Aotearoa Rugby Pod, host Ross Karl marvelled at Sexton having 'all the clubs in his bag' while Crusaders star Bryn Hall commented:

"My player of the weekend was Johnny Sexton, with how he played at the weekend. He was a bit of a puppeteer, wasn't he? Manipulating the All Black defence, and the phase-play shape and, I guess, showing the old Ireland and what we've become so accustomed to seeing."

We also had Stuff rugby columnist Mark Reason laud Sexton as he called on Crusaders' Richie Mo'unga to start ahead of Beauden Barrett in the Third Test.

'In the 90 or so minutes he has played against Johnny Sexton in this series,' Reason wrote, 'Beauden Barrett has finished tactically a long way in second place. Time and again his tactical kicking is found wanting at the top level.'

Sexton has been on the international scene almost as long as Keith Earls and we are set to head to a third World Cup with him, next year. He also started two of our five games at the 2011 World Cup. The only negative to the prolonged brilliance and leadership shown by Sexton is the knock-on effect it has on his deputy, Joey Carbery. Having had promising moments in a green jersey in 2021/22, the Munster outhalf was good, not great, in the 50 First Test minutes he got, and only got on in Dunedin when Sexton limped off with six minutes to play. In that short cameo, he missed a tackle in the lead-up to Will Jordan's late try. The clock is running down on Sexton. When Test rugby resumes in November of this year, he will have, at most, 11 months left as an Ireland player. Enjoy it while we can, and hope the next guy in can someday reach these extraordinary levels he keeps coming back with. Stream the biggest sporting moments with NOW, including all the Test match between Ireland and New Zealand, on Saturday July 16 [from 8:05am].

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“Keith Earls ain’t finished yet!” -- Darren Cave and Greg O'Shea talk about their past experiences training and playing with Keith Earls, and think folks that don’t rate him as a great player don’t know what they’re talking about.

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