All Blacks great Steve Hansen on what makes Johnny Sexton ‘probably the best I’ve ever seen’
Johnny Sexton in action for Ireland against South Africa at the Rugby World Cup.
Rugby World Cup-winning head coach Steve Hansen has praised the qualities of Johnny Sexton ahead of their potential quarter-final clash.
New Zealand and Ireland are on course to meet in the last-eight of the global tournament after Andy Farrell’s men defeated the Springboks 13-8 last weekend.
Scotland and Italy could still have something to say about that, with both sides looking to upset the odds against Ireland and the All Blacks respectively.
However, should the favourites get through those encounters, it will set up a mouthwatering encounter in the knockout stages of the Rugby World Cup.
The threat of Sexton
Hansen is wary of the qualities the Irish pose and gave particular kudos to 38-year-old Sexton, who continues to shine at pivot.
“We have to get to Sexton, he’s a phenomenal player and probably the best I’ve ever seen in making the right decisions on the line,” the former All Blacks boss told The Platform.
“I don’t think I’ve seen a player anywhere in the world, or anytime in the world, as good as he is at off-loading the ball to the right person at the right time under pressure.”
The 64-year-old also believes that New Zealand can play on their opponents’ World Cup anxiety, with Ireland yet to reach a semi-final at the global tournament.
“We have to make sure we’re prepared to stay in the fight, take the points when they’re on offer and keep ticking the scoreboard over, and try putting them under pressure from a scoreboard point of view,” he said.
“If we can do that, it’s like ‘oh, here we go again, we’re not going to get past the quarter-finals.’ That will put them under a bit of pressure and maybe distract them from where they need to be mentally.”
Hansen also looked at the technical side of the match and revealed what his plan would be for overcoming the Irishmen.
“If we want to beat Ireland, we’ve got to be able to take them on up front, contest at lineout time, make our scrum really potent and challenge them there,” he said.
“We need to go through the breakdown as they’re not putting anybody in the breakdown themselves, so go through it rather than go wide.
“Once we go through it and start narrowing them up a bit, we can go wide.”
Fitness and form
The All Blacks have fallen behind Ireland, South Africa and France in the pecking order, but their ex-head coach dismissed concerns over their recent results and performances.
Hansen is not reading much into their defeats to the Springboks and Les Bleus, and believes that they will be fresher when the tournament reaches the knockout stages.
“Seven players hadn’t played for four weeks before we played South Africa, so they were always going to run out of petrol,” he added.
“Again against France, they’ve played two games in six weeks. It’s not enough rugby, but they took that choice because they want to build into this tournament.
“How are the likes of South Africa and those teams, who have had lots of games and tough pools, going to be travelling at the back end of the tournament? Are they going to be feeling it?”
