Former Ireland hooker James Tracy has labelled All Blacks centre Rieko Ioane’s treatment of Johnny Sexton after their World Cup quarter-final encounter last year as “as low as you can get”.
Details of the pair’s fracas after the final whistle of the All Blacks’ victory came to light recently in an extract of Sexton’s soon-to-be-released autobiography Obsessed in The Sunday Times.
A verbal back-and-forth between the Irishman and the Kiwi was visible for any viewers at the time, but Sexton has now provided his account of the events that unfolded.
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“I couldn’t bring myself to watch the quarter-final back,” Sexton, who was consigned to retirement upon the ending of the match, wrote.
“I don’t think I ever will. I don’t need to. I’ve mentally replayed every second, over and over. 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.
Ireland
New Zealand
“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**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***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.”
Sexton’s former Leinster and Ireland teammate James Tracy recently backed his fly-half up on Off the Ball, describing the All Black’s actions as a “low blow”.
“Whatever about what happens on the field and how you feel about a certain player and everything like that, what he’s done for the game, never mind Irish rugby, is something you respect whether you like the person or not,” the six-cap Ireland international said.
“If you don’t like him, just don’t say anything to him. You’ve just beaten him on the biggest stage, in the biggest moment, and you know they’re done. You had every opportunity every time you played them to take their head off if you don’t like them.
“If Johnny had said something chirpy to him first, then if he responded that way that’s fair game. Take as many shots as you want at that moment, he opens the floor.
“Especially in the context that they’ve thrown the kitchen sink, they can barely walk, and everything that they’ve done for Irish rugby and rugby in general, then just to have that low blow.
“If the cameras are on, he’s sweeping the sheds, he’s front of camera.
“It’s as low as you can get.
“Not all of the New Zealand rugby players are like that, and that’s well known, but I thought that was as bad as it gets in terms of trying to claim that you’re humble and no dickheads and all that stuff.”
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