‘We’ve got a bit of work to do’: Nations Championship a test for Ireland’s World Cup ambitions

As a player, Johnny Sexton experienced going into World Cups both with and without high expectations. Although the outcome was the same dog-eared script of a quarter-final exit, he has little doubt that going with hope if preferable.

So while the Nations Championship and Six Nations are desirable targets in their own right, they also serve as a lead-in to the next year’s World Cup Australia.

The Nations Championship resumes next week, with Ireland kicking off the northern series against Argentina at the Aviva Stadium on November 6th. They then host Fiji and South Africa, after which their ranking will determine what playoff they will contest during the finals weekend in Twickenham, which will take place on November 27th-29th.

The Ireland assistant coach certainly spoke with his master’s voice in outlining the target for the next month.

“As a team, we want to win the next three games and be in the final in Twickenham,” said Sexton. “It’s a results business this, isn’t it? But at the same time, we’ve got a World Cup in 12 months, and we obviously need to see certain people play.”

Reflecting on their “up and down” campaign last summer, Sexton added: “It’s not the standard that we want. We can make excuses and say, ‘Oh, it’s the back end of a Lions year’, which we obviously had a big representation on. We’re not going to do that. It probably wasn’t where we wanted to be. We’ve kind of acknowledged that and said, ‘How are we going to go about putting ourselves in the frame to talk about going to win a World Cup’?

“Because I’ve been involved in teams over the years where we’ve gone to World Cups and we said ‘we’re going here to win a World Cup’, and we’re kind of looking at each other because we didn’t have any evidence to back up that claim.

“In 2023, we had that evidence behind us. We had, whatever, 20 games unbeaten, we’d won a Grand Slam, we’d gone to New Zealand [and won a series]. So you go, ‘We’ve done a block of work, this group’.”

He conceded: “We’ve got a bit of work to do. We’ve acknowledged that as a player group and a coaching group, and we’ve said that we need to catch up a little.”

He added that while South Africa didn’t have “outstanding form” coming into the last two World Cups, “they turned up and produced when it mattered”.

Even so, Ireland needed to enhance their standing over the next year. In their own minds as much as anyone else’s.

“That’s the goal over the next year, and obviously we want to win as well. You want to keep winning for Ireland, whether it’s the Nations Championship and then into Six Nations. We’re not solely focused on a World Cup. We’re trying to win along the way as well.”

Among the areas of focus for the squad is aerobic fitness, underlined by a day of fitness testing during the preseason.

“That was a big thing. Over recent years, I think we have been up there with the fittest teams in the world, and we dictated the pace of the game, and we just feel we need to get back to that.

“We’re never going to be the biggest, strongest team. We’ve made huge strides in that over the years, and we do have a great-sized pack, and they’re powerful boys, but we need to make our fitness and the way we play our point of difference, because that’s how we’re going to be successful.”

Of the current competition for his old spot at outhalf, Sexton has been encouraged by the form shown by both Sam Prendergast and Ciarán Frawley.

“It’s great to see him [Frawley] have a consistent run of games in the 10 jersey. Lo and behold, when he’s had that, he’s pushed his way in here. That was always going to be the case. Everyone that’s watched him over the years knows how talented he is and how gifted he is in many ways.

“He’s got an amazing physical profile, particularly for an outhalf. He’s got pace, which can be handy for an outhalf. I’ve never had much of that,” he said, a wryly remark given his 18 tries to put him joint-eighth on Ireland’s all-time list.

“Sam started the season great. Bits at the start, like the kicking, will get better over the next few weeks,” Sexton said of the Leinster kicker, adding the wrist injury that ruled him out of last Saturday’s game at the Aviva “wasn’t ideal” as they “would have liked to see him play against Munster”.

“Jamie Benson has been impressive as a player,” Sexton said of the 24-year-old, one of just two uncapped players included in the squad. “He hasn’t had too much time at 10, but he’s been very impressive with what he’s done with Ulster, whether it’s been at 12, 13, 15 and at 10, he’s kicked a few goals. We had to see all those things to bring him in.”

As for what Joey Carbery needs to do to earn a recall, Sexton said: “He’s got to go and play for Leinster in the number 10 jersey consistently. Then suddenly you go, ‘Okay, we can bring him back in, 100 per cent’.

“He’s had one game and one off the bench for a few minutes. It’s just about seeing him in the hot seat again. Hopefully he will go well. He has buckets of talent, Joey. It’s good to see him back.”