World Rugby will be announcing its male and female players of 2018 in Monaco on Sunday. When the shortlists were first published there was still a faint element of doubt about the men’s winner. Not any more. If Johnny Sexton, the sole European contender, is somehow edged out there will be uproar in both hemispheres.
No disrespect to Beauden Barrett and Rieko Ioane of New Zealand, or the Springboks duo Faf de Klerk and Malcom Marx, but Sexton has pulled so far ahead of the field he is now practically in a league of his own. Much as Ireland’s win over New Zealand last Saturday was a supreme team effort, the fly-half has long been Joe Schmidt’s on-field lieutenant and continues to be absolutely central to his country’s ongoing rise.
At 33, he appears allergic to laurel-resting. This year alone he has steered Ireland to a Six Nations grand slam, shared in his country’s first series win in Australia for 39 years, beaten the All Blacks, finished on the winning team in all nine Tests he started and, for good measure, helped Leinster win the Guinness Pro14 and European Champions Cup titles. All this having played a pivotal role in the British & Irish Lions’ drawn series in New Zealand last year and with every opponent specifically targeting him every time he plays. Now a father to three children – the youngest, Sophie, was born in August – keeping busy clearly suits him.
Johnny Sexton’s stunning drop goal snatches win for Ireland over France
Along the way he has become one of the best No 10s Europe has ever produced, never mind Ireland. The joy of Sexton is that he can do it all: think, pass, run, kick, put his body on the line and thrive under the most intense pressure. Think, for example, of the huge drop goal he landed against France to set Ireland on track for their grand slam; whatever the question, Johnny tends to supply the answer.
Opposite Barrett on Saturday the contrast was instructive. The All Blacks’ No 10 is devastating in broken-field play but in terms of sheer over-my-dead-body competitiveness only England’s Owen Farrell among modern fly-halves comes close to Sexton. The latter has even reached the point where he is starting to use his trademark strengths as a decoy, tweaking his familiar wraparound move here and there to keep the opposition defence guessing afresh.
The kicks, which Sexton continues to work on intensively with Jonny Wilkinson’s former kicking guru Dave Alred, are also flying straighter than ever, the switch move that allowed Bundee Aki to put Jacob Stockdale over for the crucial try last Saturday another instance of perfect execution.
Even Wilkinson did not exert such a sharp tactical influence; if Ireland do win next year’s World Cup and ascend to No 1 in the world there will be no prizes for guessing the identity of their on-field muse.
It would also place Sexton in even more exalted company. Latterly the world player of the year award has been a carve-up: All Blacks have won it for the last six years on the trot. Barrett is hoping to join Dan Carter and Richie McCaw in winning it three times. Kieran Read, the current captain, has won it twice, and Brodie Retallick won it in 2014. The only Europeans to win it since Keith Wood in 2001 have been Thierry Dusautoir and Fabien Galthié of France, Shane Williams of Wales and Wilkinson in England’s annus mirabilis of 2003.
There has long been a feeling in Ireland, justifiably, that Brian O’Driscoll should have won in 2009. How ironic, then, that O’Driscoll was on the panel that drew up this year’s shortlist. Either way, it is high time a European male barged his way into the club, as will surely be the case with the women’s award. Four of the five shortlisted women are from France, who like Ireland have won a Six Nations grand slam this year and, for the first time, beat New Zealand 30-27 in Grenoble last weekend.
The France captain Gaëlle Hermet is still only 22 but has a fabulous record, in addition to being a forceful and influential back-rower. Her teammate Safi N’Diaye has been nominated for the second year running despite having shifted position from No 8 to the second row in the meantime. The 38-year-old New Zealand hooker Fiao’o Faamausili came out of retirement this year to lead the world champions to back-to-back victories over Australia in August but, in terms of eye-catching results, France have clearly been the team of the year.
They still have a way to go, however, to match Sexton’s record. His last 14 starts for Ireland and the Lions have yielded 13 wins and a draw. Every leading Test side have lost to a team with Sexton operating at No 10 in the past 16 months, including New Zealand twice. Along with O’Driscoll and Paul O’Connell, Ireland’s ever-demanding fly-half ranks alongside the most important on-field drivers of the modern juggernaut. If anyone deserves a night in the Monaco limelight it is him.
Double standards
Last weekend was a generally positive one for rugby. Ireland’s perfect night, Wayne Barnes’s fine refereeing, Wales’s visible progress, Japan’s electric first 40 minutes, France women’s aforementioned win over New Zealand, Danny Cipriani’s exquisite touches for Gloucester against Leicester … sometimes it is important to take a step back and appreciate the sport’s good points. Siya Kolisi, South Africa’s captain, has been another impressive ambassador for rugby this year but that does not mean he should not have been disciplined for dropping the back of his head on to Peter Horne as the pair lay on the ground during the Springboks game at Murrayfield. Letting him off with a citing commissioner’s warning is completely at odds with World Rugby’s oft-repeated desire to crack down on head-on-head contact.
And another thing …
Among its other interesting outcomes was the USA’s win over Romania which hoisted them above both Italy and Georgia to No 13 in the world. It is asking too much to expect them to beat Ireland in Dublin this weekend but the Eagles are clearly on the up. Cracking the US has long been rugby’ union’s fondest dream and a consistently successful national team would give it a better chance of happening. Pool C at next year’s World Cup – already containing England, France and Argentina – grows ever more intriguing.