Sexton's captaincy could come under review

Ireland captain Johnny Sexton believes his position as the side's captain could be reviewed following the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.

Sexton took over the captaincy from Rory Best after the hooker retired after the Rugby World Cup in Japan and won his opening two games as Ireland captain before going down to England.

Speaking on Off The Ball, Sexton claimed that Farrell offered him the role on a one campaign basis meaning that it may come under review now that the season has been suspended.

“Andy Farrell had spoken to me before the Six Nations,” Sexton said

“We talked about it [captaincy] being a one campaign thing. So, I’m not sure what he’ll do going forward whether he’ll go with someone else or whether he thinks I’ve done a good job.

“If it is someone else I’ll get in behind them and if it is me I’ll try to improve and help the team as best as I can.”

Sexton came under fire following Ireland’s 24-12 defeat to England at Twickenham in February with Ronan O’Gara questioning whether an out-half should be given the role of captain.

Sexton responded to O'Gara's comments: “Obviously, it didn’t go to plan against England which was gutting, but it had nothing to do with me being captain,”

“I saw a few comments and when you’re going in to do the press conferences David O Siochain [IRFU Media Officer] will tell me the gist of what’s going on.

“People were asking am I struggling with my kicking because of the captaincy. I’d kicked 85 to 90% in my other games as captain, but one bad game and everyone jumps on the bandwagon. That’s the frustrating part, people making these opinions on one performance.

“I see some of it [the criticism], I don’t see it all and often you might just be walking down in Carton House and you see a headline and suddenly the chimp in you attacks. Whereas maybe what is in the article isn’t too bad at all. So, that can be tough.

“[But] you don’t expect past players and teammates to defend you or stick up for you when it isn’t warranted, it is clear that I had a poor game against England by my standards. You do expect past players not to jump on the bandwagon of my being the captain is too much, however. It wasn’t [too much] in the other four games that I did it, so why is it this time?

“I’d be friends with some of the people doing these jobs, but it can be tough on the relationship.”

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