Johnny Sexton details heated exchange with All Blacks star Rieko Ioane in new book

Monday, 30 September 2024

In an unforgettable night, Sam Cane celebrated his 100th test match as the All Blacks triumphed over the Wallabies in the second Bledisloe Cup test. The team delivered a powerful performance, honouring Cane's milestone victory.

Ireland rugby legend Johnny Sexton has revealed what prompted his war of words with Rieko Ioane following his team’s defeat to the All Blacks at last year’s World Cup.

Ireland went into the World Cup as the No. 1 ranked team in the world and they beat eventual champions South Africa during the group stage, only to be eliminated by New Zealand in the quarterfinals.

The All Blacks survived 37 phases to grind out a gutsy 28-24 victory. The result brought immediate end to Sexton’s lengthy professional rugby career and dashed the Ireland captain’s dream of a fairytale finish.

After the final whistle, a heated exchange between the Ireland first five-eighth and Ioane was picked up by television cameras.

Sexton admitted “it didn’t look great” but he has defended his outburst towards the All Blacks centre in his new book Obsessed – The Autobiography of Johnny Sexton.

The Times published extracts from the book this weekend, detailing the aftermath of the defeat and Sexton’s view of the incident.

Johnny Sexton was involved in a heated exchange with Rieko Ioane following the Rugby World Cup match between Ireland and the All Blacks last year.

“I couldn’t bring myself to watch the quarterfinal back. I don’t think I ever will. I don’t need to. I’ve mentally replayed every second, over and over,” Sexton wrote.

“It finishes the same way every time. Rónan Kelleher still ploughs into Brodie Retallick and Sam Whitelock. Whitelock goes in for the poach, clearly without releasing, but somehow Wayne Barnes awards him the penalty, even though it has all happened under his nose — and it’s all over.

“And as I stand there, hands on hips, staring in disbelief at Barnes, Rieko Ioane still comes up to me and tells me, “Get back ten metres.”

“Huh?

“Penalty,” he says. “Back ten.” And then, after Barnes blows the final whistle, he says, “Don’t miss your flight tomorrow. Enjoy your retirement, you c….”

“So much for the All Blacks’ famous “no d…heads” policy. So much for their humility. I walk after Ioane and call him a fake-humble f…er. It doesn’t look great, me having a go at one of them just after we’ve lost. But I can’t be expected to ignore that.

“Later, I got in touch with Joe Schmidt to explain my behaviour. Joe was part of the All Blacks’ coaching team and we go back a long way. Typically, he’d been gracious in victory that night. He took time to say nice things to Luca, on the pitch, shortly after the game.

“The Barrett brothers — Beauden, Scott and Jordie — were real gentlemen, too, as was Ardie Savea, who had some lovely words of consolation for me. I appreciated that.”

All Blacks coach Ian Foster was asked about the incident between Sexton and Ioane following New Zealand’s quarterfinal victory, but said verbal stoushes between opposition players were commonplace in most sports.

“Players from both teams, and from all teams, occasionally want to say a few words to each other and that’s the nature of the game,” Foster said.

“Is it right for the game? I don’t know but it’s always been there. It’s highly competitive and you don’t hear a lot of players complain about it.”