Sexton urges Irish young guns to stand up and be counted

JONATHAN Sexton wants Ireland’s youngsters to take the lead at the World Cup, claiming they are unburdened by any painful memories from 2007.

The Irish launch their tournament against Eddie O’Sullivan’s USA at Stadium Taranaki tomorrow, needing an emphatic victory to dispel memories of a troubled build-up. A convincing start would also banish any lingering shadow cast by Ireland’s dismal World Cup four years ago when their campaign unravelled from the moment the group stage began.

Sexton, who starts at fly-half ahead of Ronan O’Gara, has revealed the more recent additions to the team such as himself, Conor Murray and Keith Earls are keen to set the tone.

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“I was shocked at the way it went in 2007. The players were in such good condition, but it just didn’t fall into place for them,” he said. “Hopefully, the guys who were there have learnt from the lessons and will use their experience. But we have a lot of young lads who have no baggage and are dying to play in the World Cup. Hopefully, that mix of youth and experience will be good. Maybe some of us younger guys can take the lead. The more experienced lads are humble, they don’t mind being barked at by us.”

Successive defeats to Scotland, France home and away and England were hardly ideal preparation for the World Cup, but morale has been good since the squad’s arrival in New Zealand last week. Sexton stressed the importance of not overstating the significance of last month, but accepted there can be no excuses if Ireland misfire over the coming weeks.

“There were some disappointing results. We wanted to win the games, I’m not going to lie about that,” he said. “Maybe at times we played those games like friendlies, viewing them just as warm-up games where results didn’t matter. Maybe we’ll look back on those four matches as an important time when we learnt some harsh lessons.”

Sexton will form an exciting new half-back partnership with Conor Murray, who was the surprise selection in Ireland’s team. Murray, at 22 the squad’s youngest player, will be making his full Test debut as he continues a meteoric rise that only saw him break into the Munster team this year.

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