All Blacks made Sexton vomit
NOVEMBER TEST SPOTLIGHT: Johnny Sexton will again pull the strings when Ireland take on the All Blacks on November 16.
The match between the top two ranked sides will be more challenging for the flyhalf with the absence of his halfback partner Conor Murray.
However, Sexton knows what to expect from the All Blacks at Lansdowne Road on November 17.
“Before you play them you know it’s going to be the toughest game of the season, always,” Sexton told the42.ie
Sexton first played the All Blacks in 2010, on their June tour of New Zealand, and then in a return Test at Aviva Stadium in November.
Ahead 13-9 after 32 minutes, Ireland then faced the All Blacks turning on a pre-halftime assault which took them out to a 19-13 lead before they won the game 38-18.
“I vomited at halftime,” Sexton said.
“It was just an incredible pace to the game, just every collision was ferocious. Every collision was like the first collision of the game.”
In 2016 things started to change for Ireland, first Sexton was part of that Ireland side who claimed their maiden victory over All Blacks Chicago and was part of a British & Irish Lions team that drew their 2017 series in New Zealand.
“I think our levels of fitness now, and our levels of preparation, have gone up a lot since then,” he said.
“We’ve never beaten them in Ireland, so it would be pretty special to be on the first Irish team to beat them here. And I’m sure the crowd, everyone is looking for tickets and the thought of it…so as players we need to concentrate on the first couple of games but at the same time it’s going to be a pretty special occasion, I think.”
Sexton could potentially go up against All Blacks flyhalf Beauden Barrett, the World Rugby player of the year for the last two years.
A dual Sexton is very excited about.
“I don’t know him really that well, I spoke to him after we played in Chicago and that was the only time I’ve ever swapped jerseys with the All Blacks,” he said.
“He’s a nice guy, world player of the year the last two years in a row, he’s the guy to catch.”
“I think he gets a bad…even during that Lions tour he got slated for the second Test when he kicked seven from 10 on a windy, wet night in Wellington.
“You know, the game against South Africa (also in Wellington), he only missed a few. But, like, it’s one of the hardest stadiums in the world to kick in, the wind can play absolute havoc. I’ve had sessions there where I’ve barely got a kick.
“So I think he gets a bit of unfair criticism in his kicking, and if you actually look at his statistics or whatever you want to look at, he’s a very good kicker and he’s a world class player. To score four tries in a game [against Australia at Eden Park] is incredible, and he had one disallowed as well, so he had the potential to score five.”
The game was also important ahead of the World Cup. Depending on the outcome of the pool game between the All Blacks and South Africa, the losing side could meet Ireland in a quarterfinal, and if that was the All Blacks then it was important to show in the Dublin game that they could compete with them, Sexton said.
Source: @Allblacks
