JONATHAN SEXTON’S importance to Leinster grows by the week. It’s remarkable to think he is still only two and a half games into his season, but from the moment he entered the fray against Munster he has helped them transform the province’s performance levels and results.
Where before they were a little unsure of themselves as they flapped about, now they have direction and a steady hand on the tiller.
Here he rose to the sense of occasion with a near faultless display, and though only assuming the kicking duties for the first time this season landed seven from seven to augment his try to account for all of Leinster’s 25 points.
In its brief flirtations with rugby, the hallowed turf has surely never seen a better match-winning performance.
They’ve achieved nothing yet, but Leinster have assumed pole position in this toughest of pools. “It was important to get an away win,” said Sexton.
“Obviously we played quite well at home in the last two games and in the Cardiff game but we have been pretty poor away from home.
“As a group we’re all honest and don’t want to be known as a team that goes away and plays poorly, rather be in a team that goes away and gets result like that, that really builds spirit in the group when you come away and get big away wins like that.”
Sexton, who used to be quite a prolific try scorer by outhalf standards, was also relieved to dot down for the first time since his 22-point haul against the Scarlets last February.
“Yeah I was due a try. I’ve been trying to run that inside line for a while now and it finally got back to me. Fergus (McFadden) nipped inside me – I thought he was going to take it from me – but then he linked up well so I was happy to get a try.”
Amid all the dissent and disagreement flying around about the refereeing of Christophe Berdos, Sexton was as calm and measured as he had been on the pitch.
“I thought he reffed pretty well. He reffed the defensive side which is what you are meant to do. A few of the penalties we conceded were when we had the ball and we got isolated, I suppose that’s something that hasn’t been said.
“It’s not really about the ref, we showed that we didn’t concede penalties at the end and maybe we will take a lot out of that. We don’t need to concede penalties, we don’t need to contest as hard on the ground as we do, that’s an aspect that we’ve done really well in the last few years.
“Maybe we can trust the defence a bit more.”
And Leinster did it without Brian O’Driscoll.
But, as Sexton stated, this is not a new phenomenon for this team. “We won a couple of games without him last year as well; we won down in Thomond. We have two of the best young centres in the country in Eoin O’Malley and Fergus McFadden and we’ve got an international in Luke Fitzgerald, who can play there as well.
“As big a loss as Brian was we have lot of guys pushing him and Gordon D’Arcy for a starting place and we have a lot of confidence in those young lads. Fergus did really well when he came on and Luke did really well from the start.”
“At least he will get off my back now about kicking,” quipped Joe Schmidt wryly about the player alongside him.
“He’s pushing and pushing. I’m happy to let him kick now. I thought it was a magnificent kicking display, the one on the crossbar he was really just looking for the €250,000 prize they were offering at half-time. He believed he should at least have got a share of that, I’m just happy that he contributed massively to us getting the major share of the points that were on offer.”
Match Statistics
Scoring sequence
7 mins:Sexton pen 0-3; 12: Goode try 5-3; 16: Hougaard pen 8-3; 20: Sexton pen 8-6; 27: Sexton pen 8-9; 35: Hougaard pen 11-9; 36: Sexton pen 11-12; (half-time 11-12); 45: Sexton pen 11-15; 52: Sexton try and con 11-22; 57: Goode pen 14-22; 62: Goode pen 17-22; 64: Sexton pen 17-25; 69: Goode pen 20-25; 74: Goode pen 23-25.
SARACENS: A Goode, D Strettle, A Powell, B Barritt, C Wyles, D Hougaard, R Wigglesworth, D Carstens, S Brits, C Nieto, S Borthwick (capt), M Botha, J Burger, A Saull, E Joubert. Replacements: K Brown for Joubert, N de Kock for Wigglesworth, N Cato for Hougaard (all 47 mins), K Ratuvou for Powell (59 mins). Not used: J George, M Parr, R Skuse, H Smith. Sin bin: Skuse (61 - 71 mins).
LEINSTER: R Kearney, S Horgan, L Fitzgerald, G DArcy, I Nacewa, J Sexton, E Reddan, C Healy, R Strauss, M Ross, N Hines, D Toner, S OBrien, S Jennings, J Heaslip (capt). Replacements: F McFadden for Fitzgerald (47 mins), I Boss for Reddan (57 mins), H Van Der Merwe for Healy (61 mins), J Harris-Wright for Jennings (66-71 mins), L Cullen for Toner (70 mins), S Shawe for Ross (77 mins). Not used: D Ryan, E O'Malley. Sin bin: Strauss (61-71 mins).
Referee: Christophe Berdos(France).
