Ireland: Johnny Sexton striving for improved Rugby World Cup performance

Johnny Sexton insists that Ireland must not rest on their laurels if they are to deliver an improved overall showing when they compete in next year’s Rugby World Cup in France.

Andy Farrell’s charges are set to kick off their Autumn Nations Series campaign against South Africa at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin on Saturday and will be hoping to continue the fine form which has taken them to the top of the World Rugby rankings.

Similarities to 2018 Ireland side

With the 2023 Rugby World Cup less than a year away, there are similarities between Farrell’s team and previous coach Joe Schmidt’s Ireland side, who won a Six Nations Grand Slam and beat the All Blacks in 2018, but failed to shine at the global showpiece in Japan the following year and eventually made a familiar quarter-final exit.

And with next year’s World Cup drawing ever closer, Sexton has given credit to Ireland’s coaching staff for building competition for places and not allowing established players to slip into their comfort zones.

Farrell has used a squad of 49 players at training sessions for their clash with the Springboks and there will also be attention on players in the Ireland ‘A’ team when they face an All Blacks XV side on Friday night.

“You’ve got to keep evolving, you’ve got to keep getting better,” said Sexton. “If you stay the same, other teams will pass you out.

“We need to build a real competition for places so that no one can get comfortable and that is exactly what the coaches are doing.

“They’re challenging us in how we play the game, they’re challenging us by putting all these extra fixtures in, with the Emerging Ireland tour, the Maori games, now the New Zealand A game, so all these guys are getting chances to impress the coaches and to play under the coaches, to listen and put what the coaches want out on the pitch.

“There were 50 players at training and I was thinking to myself 20 of them are going to be left at home for the World Cup.

“And I couldn’t pick who is going to be left at home, there are going to be some good players left out.

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“That’s exactly where we want to be and keep cultivating. Those are the lessons we learnt that we’re implementing.”

Saturday’s Test will be the first time in five years that Ireland and South Africa face each other and there will be extra spice added to this encounter as the countries have also been drawn in the same pool for next year’s World Cup.

But Sexton insists that he is only focused on what happens in this weekend’s fixture.

“I’m just trying to focus on what is straight in front of me,” said the 37-year-old Leinster fly-half.

Not looking at bigger picture yet

“I haven’t thought too much about the bigger picture. It’s a driving factor, but it’s not something I think about this week, for example.

“We have spoken about the World Cup of course and have that as the goal so we are always building towards that.

“We don’t refer to it week on week. It is very much focused on South Africa this week.”