Sexton-Ioane altercation echoes a year later before Ireland-All Blacks showdown

November 5, 2024

Jonathan Sexton has been retired from playing rugby for more than a year, yet he and Rieko Ioane will loom over the Ireland-New Zealand showdown this week in Dublin.

Sexton has been welcomed back by Ireland for this autumn series as an unofficial consultant, to advise its three relatively inexperienced flyhalves. But it’s his revelations in his latest autobiography, “Obsessed,” that have revisited bad blood between the teams.

Sexton’s retirement date depended on how long Ireland lasted in the Rugby World Cup in France a year ago. Ireland was unbeaten, ranked No. 1, and favored against New Zealand in their quarterfinal in Paris. But the All Blacks won an epic match 28-24.

New Zealand’s Ioane taunted the Irish crowds and had an angry exchange with Sexton that wasn’t picked up by the TV broadcast. Irish media accused Ioane of being classless. Then-All Blacks coach Ian Foster and captain Sam Cane showered praise on Sexton for his great career while also defending their center, saying it was heat-of-the-moment stuff.

Cane added, “Emotions can run high and words are said. It is always just left out there.”

Until Sexton put them in his book.

According to Sexton, Ioane told him, “Don’t miss your flight tomorrow. Enjoy your retirement, you (expletive).”

“So much for (the All Blacks’) humility,” Sexton wrote. “I walk after Ioane and call him a fake-humble (expletive). 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.”

Ioane’s only public response was cryptic on social media. He shared a picture of him and Sexton from the quarterfinal, a joker card above his head, a house emoji below Sexton, backgrounded by the chorus “In your head” from The Cranberries’ “Zombie,” which has become the Irish fans’ anthem.

On Friday, Ioane is sure to be the focus of Irish fans’ anticipated wrath if he plays at Aviva Stadium, as expected.

Both players had their supporters.

Former Ireland teammate James Tracy noted Sexton was infamous for tongue lashings — he was suspended from Ireland’s World Cup warmups last year for abusing officials after the European Cup club final — but his career deserved respect and a dignified exit. Tracy said Ioane’s comments were “as low as you can get.”

Former All Black Israel Dagg backed Ioane. “When you fire something, you’ve got to expect a return, and that’s what’s happened here. He is standing up for Sammy Cane and Brodie Retallick. Pete O’Mahony threw out some chat.”

When Ireland won a test in New Zealand for the first time in 2022, flanker O’Mahony was heard on the referee’s mic insulting Cane by saying he wasn’t as good as predecessor Richie McCaw. Cane didn’t bite and called it “ good rugby banter.” O’Mahony had more to spray when the Irish won that series, an historic achievement.

The All Blacks never forgot and, at fulltime in Paris, Retallick told O’Mahony, “Four more years you (expletive).”

This year, South Africa lock Eben Etzebeth accused Ireland of being arrogant at the World Cup. Etzebeth told a podcast in April that after the Irish won the pool clash against the Springboks, “you shake the guys’ hands and probably 12 out of the 23 told me, ‘See you guys in the final.’ My immediate thought was, ‘Are these guys seriously not even thinking about the All Blacks in a World Cup quarterfinal?’ I just thought these guys were making a big mistake.”

During this year’s Six Nations, before Ireland met France, Irish hooker Rob Herring tagged the match as “the World Cup final everyone wanted but never got.”

Days after Sexton’s World Cup reveal in September, he told the BBC, “I was a bit shocked by the reaction to that because I toyed with taking it out (of the book), putting it in, but the reason I put it in was not giving out like, this is just what happened.

“A certain part of me was just trying to protect because I got criticized after the game for my reaction, because people thought, ‘Oh, here’s your man being a sore loser again.’ But they didn’t see what set me off. It was just me explaining why.”