It is about the team, says rugby record breaker Johnny Sexton, after Ireland’s win over Tonga
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Ireland's Johnny Sexton celebrates scoring their fourth try in their 59-16 win over Tonga on Sept 16.
PHOTO: REUTERS
NANTES – Johnny Sexton waved away praise over his new points record for Ireland, lauding his teammates as they claimed an efficient 59-16 win over Tonga last Saturday to seal a second straight Rugby World Cup win.
The veteran fly-half, who played only the first half, scored a try, kicked a penalty and four conversions to take his total points in Tests for Ireland to 1,090, eclipsing the record of Ronan O’Gara.
“I don’t think it is about individual achievements this evening. It is about getting the next win and keep building in this tournament. It’s week on week in a World Cup,” Sexton said after victory in front of 15,000 green-clad Irish supporters at the Stade de la Beaujoire.
He added: “My little boy (Luca) will be over the moon. He has been talking about it during the week and will probably try and chase it himself now!”
Sexton looked delighted, however, as he touched down between the posts to score a try before half-time after one of the many line breaks executed by Ireland.
“It’s always nice to score a try, I don’t get it too often. It’s a lovely personal milestone but I’d much rather a victory,” the 38-year-old added.
“We’re delighted to get five points against a very good team. That’s what tonight was about and that was the main objective.”
Ireland coach Andy Farrell, who has already described his talisman as “Ireland’s greatest player” said it was fitting he had broken the record with such a lovely try.
“I’ve said to Johnny in front of the lads in there, he can talk for himself, but the record is fantastic,” he said.
“He’d say that’s his job, but it takes some doing. To us, as a leader, as a player, he’s a lot more than a points-scoring machine for Ireland.
“How he prepares his team and gets them up for every single game is more important to him and certainly to us.”
Ireland meet South Africa in Paris on Saturday in a match likely to determine who finish top of Pool B.
“We struggled in the breakdown for the first 15 to 20 minutes. Once we got to grips with that, we started playing some better stuff. We had a couple of exits we weren’t that happy with,” Sexton said.
“It’s never perfect and we will go back and look at it. We try to search on how we can improve week on week.”
The Irish scored eight tries, Man of the Match Bundee Aki bagged a second successive brace, with Tadhg Beirne, Caelan Doris, Mack Hansen, James Lowe and Rob Herring also crossing the line. Vaea Fifita scored Tonga’s sole try.
Tonga coach Toutai Kefu was seething with his side’s poor decisions.
Vaea Fifita scored Tonga’s sole try.
PHOTO: AFP
“I don’t think they are a 60-point team better than us,” said Kefu.
“We were our own worst enemy and made poor decisions which probably inflated the score more than it should have been.
“This result, we have got to flush it and move on. If we play like that against Scotland (on Sunday), it’s sure the Scots will put plenty on us.” REUTERS, AFP
