Johnny Sexton details post-match row with 'fake-humble****r' All Black in Paris
Not all All Blacks are the models of sportsmanship they would have you believe.
Johnny Sexton has revealed he called All Black Rieko Ioane 'a fake humble-f**ker' in the now infamous caught-on-camera exchange after the final whistle at the RWC 2023 quarter-final in Paris.
The Irish out half was lost in a trance, upset at having seen the match slip away, when the New Zealand second-centre approached him ranting, gloating.
It is, suggests the out-half, time people realised that not all All Blacks are the models of good sportsmanship they would have the world believe.
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Sexton, in a revealing exclusive extract from his forthcoming book serialised in today's Sunday Times that, match over, Ioane was shouting: "Don't miss your flight tomorrow. Enjoy your retirement, you c**t."
"So much for the All Blacks famous 'no dickheads' policy. So much for their humility. I walk after Ioane and call him a fake humble f*****.
"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."
Sexton still believes Ireland were the best team in the tournament, that the Irish world ranking going into the competition was accurate.
"I know I'm biased. And I know that South Africans - and others - will tell me to look in the record books. But it wouldn't be the first time that the best side in a sports tournament didn't end up winning it.
"Perhaps people have asked me if we were nervous before the quarter final, if we felt 'the weight of history on our shoulders', if we did anything different from the previous games. Yes, we were nervous, but no more so than before any other game.
"Revisit the first couple of minutes and it's the All Blacks who looked incredibly jittery. I don't believe history had any relevance.
"We just didn't play to our optimum or even at 90 percent capability. It's virtually impossible to do that throughout a tournament. It's inevitable that at some stage you'll dip a little. We choose a bad day to dip."
*Johnny Sexton - Obsessed, The Autobiography by Johnny Sexton is published by Penguin, Sandycove on 10th October at €25/£20. Available to pre-order now.
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