Johnny Sexton will remove the mask which has been protecting his fractured cheekbone for Ireland’s pre-tournament four-day camp in Portugal next week.
But for all the talk about the 2023 Six Nations being viewed through the prism of a World Cup year, the Irish captain will have a blinkered focus on the 14th and last championship of his celebrated career.
Sexton was an integral part of the 2018 Grand Slam, when he went on to become the World Player of the Year, as well as the title successes of 2014 and 2015.
“Definitely, yeah. The older you get as well the more selfish you are. You want to make the most of every opportunity and it’s such a special tournament. It’s so hard to win.
“You talk about how many titles Ireland have won in the last 20 or 30 years, there’s not too many,” said Sexton, who has always been mindful of rugby history.
Those aforementioned three titles and the Grand Slam of 2009 remain Ireland’s only outright successes since 1985.
Although he didn’t mention it in public, Sexton will also be acutely aware that Ireland host England in the final game at the Aviva Stadium on March 18th and haven’t clinched a title in Dublin since 1985. Ireland’s three Grand Slams have been sealed in Belfast (1948), Cardiff (2009) and London (2018).
“It’s a special thing that you can achieve something in the tournament and we’re not talking about the World Cup at all. We won’t even be talking about France, we’ll be talking about Wales for the next two weeks, and how we can get ourselves in the best shape possible. But 100 per cent we’ll be doing all we can to win this tournament.”
By the same token, Sexton is also mindful of the need to take as much momentum as possible into the World Cup. bearing in mind how Ireland’s anti-climactic 2019 campaign was at least partly derailed by the 2019 Six Nations and the opening defeat by England.
“I think it’s important, if you talk about 2019, to keep the momentum going, to prove that we can do something in the World Cup. We need to go and do something in the Six Nations as well.”
Asked if there was a danger of history from four years ago repeating itself, Sexton said: “Well, we just need to realise why that happened, and take some of the experiences. It’s a very different group, but it’s important that we keep our standards high. We had some good results in November but the performances probably weren’t as high as in the summer.
“We need to delve deeper and even if we’re winning we need to keep learning lessons. That’s certainly what we’ve always done, and will continue to do. But we need to keep the momentum going. Yeah, it’s a very different group so we can’t think too much about four years ago.”
For the first time since Joey Carbery saw out the endgame in the 2016 win over the All Blacks in Chicago on his debut, he will not be part of an Irish squad barring injury.
“It’s part and parcel of the game,” said Sexton. “How you bounce back from it is the true sign of a character and a player, and I’m sure he will bounce back. He’ll have plenty of opportunities going forward to get back in. He’s a good guy and a great player, so I wish him all the best.”
Sexton was also steadfastly opposed to the RFU’s decision to introduce the waist-high tackle at community level.
“I don’t agree with it. There’s no point in sitting on the fence really, is there? I just think that you’ve got tall people that play the game, and it should be their decision as to how they tackle. Of course we need to get the head shots out of the game, but I think the tackles we really need to take out of the game are the reckless, out of control, sprinting out of the line, all these type of ones.
“It’s not like you can’t get concussed chopping someone’s knees. I see a hell of a lot of concussions from people getting their head on the wrong side, a knee to the temple or a hip even to the side of the head. So, I strongly disagree.”
