Johnny Sexton has taken a kicking game swipe at Eddie Jones ahead of this Saturday\u2019s Ireland versus Japan match in Dublin.<\/p>\n
Current assistant coach Sexton<\/a> was at the heart of the Irish game as a player when Jones was in charge of England<\/a> from 2016 through to 2022, and a tactic that unfolded midway through that stewardship was referenced by the former Ireland captain on Tuesday.<\/p>\n The Irish flew into Dublin on Monday following last Saturday\u2019s loss to the All Blacks in Chicago<\/a> and a query about how the kicking game fared in the 13-26 defeat became Sexton\u2019s invitation to run the rule over the performance \u2013 and also reference the mischief Jones got up to some years ago when coaching England against Ireland.<\/p>\n \u201cWhile we were down to 14 men for the red card, our kicking game was excellent,\u201d Sexton believed. \u201cDespite not winning the ball cleanly in the air, they [New Zealand] didn\u2019t win it and we won a load of scraps.<\/p>\n \u201cNow it\u2019s back in as a contest\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThat\u2019s probably what kept us in the game for that part of the game, and that\u2019s part of the game that gave them a lot of access in the second half, I would say. A couple of the kicks were just a little too long. We didn\u2019t quite make it a contestable and they played off the back of it.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a massive part of the game now with the rule changes in terms of not being allowed to escort back, you have got to clear a good pathway for people to have a real contest and I think that will suit us because there is Gaelic football guys in there.<\/p>\n \u201cI look back at probably 2019 when we were probably best in the world at kicking the ball, 18\/19, and these rules where teams combatted a way to stop us getting up after it, that was partly how the escorting came in.<\/p>\n \u201cEddie Jones seemed like he came up with it<\/a> to play against us. But now it\u2019s back in as a contest and that will suit us going forward, but we have a little bit of work to do on it.\u201d<\/p>\n England great reveals \u2018phenomenal\u2019 snippet of All Blacks \u2018rugby IQ at its absolute best\u2019 and singles out \u2018point of difference\u2019 concern about Ireland<\/a><\/p>\n Ex-Irish ref boss slams \u2018clearly incorrect\u2019 Tadhg Beirne red card exposes \u2018wider\u2019 World Rugby problem<\/a><\/p>\n Ireland were ahead of New Zealand for the guts of an hour before falling away in the final quarter and surrendering to their third successive loss versus the All Blacks. The defeat has stung and, according to Sexton, the message from head coach Andy Farrell has been clear to everyone involved.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s trying to turn the page, taking the lessons and learn. Andy is always good at that. When you are in the environment, he always reframes things. You move on pretty quick, but he also keeps us accountable and makes us realise that it wasn\u2019t good enough\u2026<\/p>\n \u201cWe understand that. It just didn\u2019t go to plan on the day, and we have got some good reasons for that now. We\u2019ll make sure it doesn\u2019t happen again.\u201d<\/p>\n