Six Nations 2021: Johnny Sexton calls on Ireland team-mates to bring their A game to Cardiff in Wales clash
JOHNNY SEXTON has said talk is cheap as Ireland aim to be silent assassins in the 2021 Six Nations.
Ireland had a disappointing tournament in 2020 as error-strewn defeats to both England and France ended dreams of claiming the Championship.
Now, Sexton – who has recovered from a hamstring strain that made him a slight doubt for Sunday’s opener with Wales – wants to put that right.
But he said Ireland will keep their targets quiet and show they can walk the walk rather than talk the talk.
He said: “It only feels like yesterday since we were finishing up the Autumn Nations Cup and a disappointing end to the last Six Nations campaign for us.
“In many ways, it has been good – we’ve hit the ground running, it doesn’t feel like we’ve gone backwards. We’ve taken up where we left off in the last campaign, which is great.
PERFORMANCE TIME
“It doesn’t matter how much we talk about it or how good we say things are in camp. We have to put out performances that reflect that and we have to get results that reflect that also.
“All teams have sat down when they met up, got together and set some targets, goals, we did it. We’re not going to go shouting from the roof tops.
“We can say one thing but until we go out and prove it on the pitch, play to our potential, and get the results we feel that we need to get within this group, we won’t know our progress or how close we are to England and France.
“We don’t play France for two weeks, we play Wales this week, and all our focus is on that and making sure we get the campaign off to a good start.”
Sexton also hailed the appointment of his former team-mate, and Ireland legend, Paul O’Connell as forwards coach.
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He said: “As a team-mate, he’s up there with the best teammates you could ask for. Everything that he did was with the team in mind and he’s no different now.
“He’s worked under some of the best coaches over the years and he’s strongly influenced by some of them. He’s very strongly influenced by Joe Schmidt.
“He has had a great impact on us so far and that’s all I can say. There is no point in talking about it, we’ve got to go out and show the influence he has had on us.”