{"id":293841,"date":"2023-09-24T22:34:44","date_gmt":"2023-09-24T22:34:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/?p=293841"},"modified":"2023-09-24T22:34:44","modified_gmt":"2023-09-24T22:34:44","slug":"ian-herbert-super-sexton-steers-ireland-to-landmark-13-8-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstons.com\/rugby-union\/ian-herbert-super-sexton-steers-ireland-to-landmark-13-8-win\/","title":{"rendered":"IAN HERBERT: Super Sexton steers Ireland to landmark 13-8 win"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>IAN HERBERT: It&#8217;s a kind of magic for super Johnny Sexton as Ireland claim landmark 13-8 victory against South Africa in an epic at the Stade de France<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ireland clinched a huge 13-8 victory against South Africa on Saturday afternoon\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Johnny Sexton led his side to the victory scoring five points with the boot<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Ireland&#8217;s Mack Hansen scored the only try to put Ireland top of the group\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Latest Rugby World Cup 2023 news, including fixtures, live scores and results<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The Stade de France sound system was in overdrive as the clock ticked towards midnight on Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>\u2018Don\u2019t stop me now, I\u2019m having such a good time, I\u2019m having a ball.\u2019 And just as the great old Queen lyric played, there was Johnny Sexton, skipping on to the field, his arms flapping around like he was conducting the piece.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Taking in the moment he\u2019ll still be talking about when he\u2019s old and grey. One of his young sons was alongside him as he walked the pitch perimeter with all the other players who are giving the Irish nation a narrative the like of which few in that land can remember.<\/p>\n<p>Together they looked like a father and boy in the park \u2014 the boy periodically shouting something, the father momentarily distracted by the scene in front of him, then remembering there was a 10-year-old beside him as they walked.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/24\/21\/75788379-0-image-a-43_1695588915330.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Johnny Sexton (pictured) led Ireland to a huge victory at the Stade de France against South Africa<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/24\/21\/75788413-0-image-a-44_1695588919612.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ireland won the physical contest 13-8 with Mack Hansen crossing the whitewash for the only try of the match<\/p>\n<p>Half an hour later, Sexton (right) walked into the press conference room \u2014 no fuss; his face bearing only a slight sign of the titanic effort of the 13-8 win over the world champions; still in his boots, one sock pulled up, the other half-way around his left calf.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>He could for all the world have just wandered in off the Avenue Jules Rimet. Only when the question of the 30,000-strong Irish support came up did he wear a look of animation.<\/p>\n<p>\u2018More like 60,000 wasn\u2019t it?\u2019 he said, suddenly possessed with the thought of the size and noise of a gathering which left you wondering if there was actually anyone left back in Dublin.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Sexton has referenced them often in this tournament and the way this team and nation are fused is something rare indeed.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a bond that seems born of the modesty, the lack of ego, a sense that these individuals are the kind you would sit down with on any weekend night at Donoghue\u2019s on Dublin\u2019s Merrion Row.<\/p>\n<p>They stand with each other, too. When centre Gary Ringrose was sent barrelling back by the massive torso of his Bok opposite number Damian de Allende on Saturday night, he seemed momentarily knocked out.<\/p>\n<p>Spotting his struggle to climb up, Ringrose\u2019s partner Peter O\u2019Mahony used gesture, as well as voice, to tell him to get back on his feet to help his friends repel a South African attack which was bordering on terrifying in the first 20 minutes.<\/p>\n<p>It was an extraordinary moment, almost lost in the elemental fury.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/09\/24\/21\/75788383-0-image-a-45_1695588923400.jpg\" height=\"378\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Ireland go top of the group four points clear of South Africa in second, who play Tonga next<\/p>\n<p>Many of the team are into their 30s \u2014 not just Sexton, at 38, but men like Tadhg Beirne, Josh van der Flier, Peter O\u2019Mahony and Jamison Gibson-Park.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>All playing with a sense that there may not be many more moments like this. That\u2019s something Ireland connects with, too. Sexton\u2019s relationship with Andy Farrell shines through.<\/p>\n<p>A French reporter asked if this win meant Ireland could be World Champions.<\/p>\n<p>Farrell was momentarily lost for a way to dismiss this, so he threw it over to his fly-half, who provided some appropriate words about perspective before he walked away, inconspicuously.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/rugbyunion\/article-12555807\/IAN-HERBERT-kind-magic-super-Johnny-Sexton-Ireland-claim-landmark-13-8-victory-against-South-Africa-epic-Stade-France.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>IAN HERBERT: It&#8217;s a kind of magic for super Johnny Sexton as Ireland claim landmark 13-8 victory against South Africa <span class=\"more-text\">&hellip;<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":293840,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.8 - 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