Sextons form

molloyjh

First off this is not another Sexton-Rog debate/bashing thread. It's been done to death so please let's not make it about that.

I read the below blog from Jonny just now though. Interesting comments on his kicking (which proves it isn't the ball!). What do people make of it? It'll be interesting to see how he does if he gets a good 20 mins on Sunday given that he thinks he has it sorted...

When you have the responsibility for place-kicking on a team you have to take the rough with the smooth. You get the kudos when things go well and when they don’t you have to take it on the chin. Everyone wants to play from the start but you have to respect the decisions that are made for the right reasons. It’s about the team, not the individual.

I have worked really hard on a technical flaw in my place-kicking and this week I feel like I have turned the corner. In the USA match, I kicked well in the warm-up but the two kicks I missed in the first half were down to the wind changing direction from the way it had been blowing prior to the match.

They both missed right but in the second half I tried to compensate and pulled the ball left. That’s when an old issue resurfaced of me dipping my body in my routine. It’s been identified and I couldn’t be happier in terms of the way I have been kicking in practice. I’m happy with my general game and if I’m called upon on Sunday I’ll be ready to go.

Kinger83

For the good of the squad and our world cup campaign i hope he has sorted out whatever issue's he's had with his kicking.

I'm no expert on place-kicking but i assume it's similar to a golf swing in that a slight change can have a profound effect in terms of distance and accuracy.

buck65

Is this thread really necessary?

phog

I hope he gets the opportunity to kick on Sunday and that he nails them.

andrewdcs

Very interesting post from Sexton, and that his "dipping body" is picked up on video and put right, must be something he does if he's getting nervous / under pressure, tightens up.

As said in other threads, loads of people have been missing kicks, England have had 2 guys banned for "feeding" a ball to Wilko which I'd like to hear more about.

I think generally his OOH has been very good and against Australia he drove the game wonderfully well behind the pack, ok we hardly unlocked them, but we played the game in their half, pressurised, ran some decent lines against them, also we looked better with him at 12 when ROg came on.

I reckon the right call for Sunday has been made, its a straight swap of the "ROG as closer" and Reddan Sexton coming on can certainly change the plan.

We've actually played a lot of these combos out in the warm ups, just fairly badly. I reckon well win after leading throughout, I don't think we'll do a Scotland and mug ourselves in the last 5, Sexton has shown in the big occasions of his short career thusfar he's as cold as ROG when it needs to happen, I've no worries about him if it comes down to nailing a droppy etc. I just would rather for my heart that we've keep on the gas beyond a 2 score cushion

AtItAllDayRef

Doesn't it also make sense that for a game like this where the game will open up in the last 20 minutes to have the likes of Sexton coming off the bench to exploit this? ROG has been picked to keep the scoreboard ticking over and hopefully force Italy to chase the game. If we can pin them back and force them to attack from deep whilst moving their pack around in the hope of them fading near the end then Sexton's running game is more suited to be introduced later on.

molloyjh

andrewdcs wrote: »

Very interesting post from Sexton, and that his "dipping body" is picked up on video and put right, must be something he does if he's getting nervous / under pressure, tightens up.

Yeah, and that is was an old issue too obviously points to him feeling the pressure, which I found interesting.

andrewdcs wrote: »

As said in other threads, loads of people have been missing kicks

Which is another reason I found that interesting. It isn't the ball so why are others having issues? Are they all suffering from nerves?

andrewdcs wrote: »

England have had 2 guys banned for "feeding" a ball to Wilko which I'd like to hear more about.

They reckoned the one that was used for the try wasn't great for the kicks and that another ball (which apparently was identical) was better. So they swapped the ball they should have used for that without checking it with the ref before-hand.

justsomebloke

Please don't talk about ROG V Sexton. This is a thread about Sexton's form nothing else. The thread on ROG V Sexton is closed and this isn't to be a replacement

davegrohl48

Interesting article alright. His body looked rigid with tension for most of his kicks. Like he's bracing himself for a punch in the stomach.
Maybe that was causing him to go "off routine".

robd

If you look at the flight of the ball for most of Johnnie's kicks versus those of other kickers in the whole tournament who have high percentage success rates there looks to be something wrong with the strike.

The ball seems to curl slightly to the left as normally happens, than suddenly skew out to the right. That suggests to me he's just not hitting the sweat spot.

As to his blog post. Don't know about kicking technique so no idea whether this was the cause of it and whether he now has it sorted.

Other than that, think he's playing excellently. Saw him score in front of me in the Heineken Cup final last season and he was on fire that day. Think he'll really come into it over the next couple of games. I expect him to feature in the 2nd half of Italy game too.

In general the team is looking good. Kidney, despite the criticism over team selections, seems to really know what he's up to strategy wise. We'll have to wait till after Italy game to know for sure.

twinytwo

molloyjh wrote: »

Yeah, and that is was an old issue too obviously points to him feeling the pressure, which I found interesting.



Which is another reason I found that interesting. It isn't the ball so why are others having issues? Are they all suffering from nerves?



They reckoned the one that was used for the try wasn't great for the kicks and that another ball (which apparently was identical) was better. So they swapped the ball they should have used for that without checking it with the ref before-hand.

dont the laws say the same ball has to be used for the conversion as that used in scoring the try unless cleared by the ref... the rfu should be heavly fined for **** like this. If it was done to them there would be war

TheHighRoad

molloyjh wrote: »

First off this is not another Sexton-Rog debate/bashing thread. It's been done to death so please let's not make it about that.

I read the below blog from Jonny just now though. Interesting comments on his kicking (which proves it isn't the ball!). What do people make of it? It'll be interesting to see how he does if he gets a good 20 mins on Sunday given that he thinks he has it sorted...

Whatever about his kicking form, hes reacted to being dropped very well. He has a strong head on his shoulders, I hope he gets a chance to prove the doubters wrong

Podge_irl

Well, you can't fault his response to being dropped anyway. I'd like to believe he really has overcome his kicking difficulties though I won't until I see it happen in a match situation.

His form has been excellent bar his place kicking imo.

Dangerous Man

At least he knows what the problem with his technique is and can work on it. I would imagine that if ROG has a 'mare against Italy (unlikely) or that we've got the game in the bag in the second half (more likely) DK will pull ROG and put on Sexton. I hope it happens and Johnny gets a couple of chances at the posts. It would be just brilliant if both outhalves were performing going into the QF.

astonaidan

Well tbh he could hardly deny hes been kicking the dead ball bad, I have a feeling Jonny will come on for Darcy on sunday, He has looked good both times at 12 albeit only for probably 30mins overall

tolosenc

In this stadium, the success rate for the tournamest so far is 22/46. Probably best that if he thinks he's fixed a problem, he doesn't go into a stadium where the odds are stacked against you scoring (several of those sucessful kicks were vonversions for tries under the posts).

As for Sexto's form, he's been brilliant in all aspects of his game bar goal kicking. So there's nothing wrong with him really.

Amazotheamazing

tolosenc wrote: »

In this stadium, the success rate for the tournamest so far is 22/46. Probably best that if he thinks he's fixed a problem, he doesn't go into a stadium where the odds are stacked against you scoring (several of those sucessful kicks were vonversions for tries under the posts).

As for Sexto's form, he's been brilliant in all aspects of his game bar goal kicking. So there's nothing wrong with him really.

No, no he hasn't. Unless you think he's playing as well as he can play. If you think he's been brilliant, what do you think of guys like Carter?

If you look at Sexton's form at the end of last season and compare it now I genuinely don't think anyone could say he's playing as well as he can.

copacetic

tolosenc wrote: »

In this stadium, the success rate for the tournamest so far is 22/46. Probably best that if he thinks he's fixed a problem, he doesn't go into a stadium where the odds are stacked against you scoring (several of those sucessful kicks were vonversions for tries under the posts).

As for Sexto's form, he's been brilliant in all aspects of his game bar goal kicking. So there's nothing wrong with him really.

Wonder how the kicking is so bad in a roofed stadium?

Podge_irl

The corners are open. Apparently it causes the wind to swirl something fierce

copacetic

Podge_irl wrote: »

The corners are open. Apparently it causes the wind to swirl something fierce

Really? Thought this could be it, but pics seemed to say not.. Maybe corners were taken down?

.ak

Apparently the corners are open, if you read some of the stadium reviews. It's hard to see in those pics, but I'd imagine there'd have to be some major openings in a stadium like that, ventilation would be a serious issue.

tolosenc

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

No, no he hasn't. Unless you think he's playing as well as he can play. If you think he's been brilliant, what do you think of guys like Carter?

If you look at Sexton's form at the end of last season and compare it now I genuinely don't think anyone could say he's playing as well as he can.

His kicking from hand has been spot on. His decision making and game management are right up there. He's not getting the backline going, but anyone without an agenda knows that has a lot to do with Gaffney.

As for Carter, he's been underwhelming so far. But that's mostly due to there being such high expectations for him from all corners.

Which 10s at the World Cup are better than him, in your opinion? Strung and Carter, is all I reckon.

astonaidan

tolosenc wrote: »

His kicking from hand has been spot on. His decision making and game management are right up there. He's not getting the backline going, but anyone without an agenda knows that has a lot to do with Gaffney.

As for Carter, he's been underwhelming so far. But that's mostly due to there being such high expectations for him from all corners.

Which 10s at the World Cup are better than him, in your opinion? Strung and Carter, is all I reckon.

Just going to go by this. IMO Carter, Steyn, ROG and Cooper besides the Ireland game have been better than Sexton

.ak

astonaidan wrote: »

Just going to go by this. IMO Carter, Steyn, ROG and Cooper besides the Ireland game have been better than Sexton

... and against Russia?

Amazotheamazing

tolosenc wrote: »

His kicking from hand has been spot on. His decision making and game management are right up there. He's not getting the backline going, but anyone without an agenda knows that has a lot to do with Gaffney.

As for Carter, he's been underwhelming so far. But that's mostly due to there being such high expectations for him from all corners.

Which 10s at the World Cup are better than him, in your opinion? Strung and Carter, is all I reckon.

Priestland? O'Gara? Steyn?

irishbucsfan

astonaidan wrote: »

Just going to go by this. IMO Carter, Steyn, ROG and Cooper besides the Ireland game have been better than Sexton

No way would I include Cooper, but I agree with the rest. Rhys Priestland has been very good as well imo.

Amazotheamazing

irishbucsfan wrote: »

No way would I include Cooper, but I agree with the rest. Rhys Priestland has been very good as well imo.

It's going to be really interesting to see where Perpignan play Hook. If they get him back to playing 10 Wales could be sorted at 10 for a long time. He's the type of player who could really suit the Top 14 too.

GerM

astonaidan wrote: »

Just going to go by this. IMO Carter, Steyn, ROG and Cooper besides the Ireland game have been better than Sexton

You must be watching a different tournament to me. In the one game where he was needed, Cooper had a miserable game. He can't control a match at all. He's there to spark things and create. If he's not doing that, he's not worth a spot in the 22.

Steyn has been average. He has had two games where the opposition game put it up to South Africa and two walkovers. He's in his team for the opposite reason to Cooper, to kick his points and keep the pressure off South Africa by keeping the game in opposition territory. He was 1/4 in penalties against Samoa and he couldn't relieve the pressure against Wales until the likes of Hougaard came on. Was weak for the Welsh try also where he could have done more.

Sexton has had a decent tournament thus far. Not by any means the best 10 but better than a fair few. Carter and Priestland have been the best outhalves so far. To be honest, no 10 has really made their mark in this competition. Carter hasn't even been at his best.

tolosenc

Amazotheamazing wrote: »

Priestland? O'Gara? Steyn?

Forgot Priestland. Where my post said "Strung" that was Steyn and the phone auto-corrected.

O'Gara was quite poor against Australia, kicks out on the full and kicks straight to the Aussie backs. No Irish player played well against the US, and O'Gara played well againt Russia, who have a reasonable claim to being the worst team in the tournament.

phog

tolosenc wrote: »

As for Sexto's form, he's been brilliant in all aspects of his game bar goal kicking. So there's nothing wrong with him really.

Goal kicking could be so important in thie Itialiand game and tbh, if our backs dont penetrate then the penalty count could end up being the decider, look how far ahead England should have been yesterday if Johnny kicked his points.

For this alone ROG is the right choice.

michelledoh

100% today guys. ROG missed one. Sexton obviously on form. Start Sexton against Wales.

Tefral

michelledoh wrote: »

100% today guys. ROG missed one. Sexton obviously on form. Start Sexton against Wales.

Ha ha ha

To be fair he did say during the week he weeded out the problems, seems like he has, difficult kick there the last one was

danthefan

Delighted he nailed those kicks, they were both fairly tricky. Any talk of his confidence being shot by not being picked was always rubbish. Definitely in the mix to start against Wales now, because if he's kicking well it's tough to make an argument for ROG imo. Good position to be in anyway, because ROG did well today.

molloyjh

It certainly looks from those 2 kicks today that Jonny has fixed the issue with his kicking like he said. Delighted for him. But more importantly I'm delighted for the side. We now have 2 OHs that look to be in form. Fantastic position for us to be in. The only thing that matters next week is the game plan. We pick the OH that best suits that, whoever that may be. And we can have confidence that they will do the job.

donfers

easy to nail kicks when the game is won, rog nailed the kicks when it counted and so far sexton has failed to kick goals when the game is in the balance

also people underestimate the other parts of rog's game, he ran the backline well today

Sexton though hopefully will demonstrate his goalkicking is fine again if he slots kicks against wales when the game is close.....he is a great player, strong in the tackle and offers a running threat and even if it's only for 20/30 minutes against wales he will be crucial - it's during the key moments in key games that you truly discover a player's form

for example earls scored two tries today but i don't think it automatically means he is in form and i think trimble has been hard done by, sexton slotted two kicks but the game was over, he needs to make some clutch plays in games and i genuinely hope he does that (although if we are 20 points up against wales when he comes on i won't complain)

twinytwo

danthefan wrote: »

Delighted he nailed those kicks, they were both fairly tricky. Any talk of his confidence being shot by not being picked was always rubbish. Definitely in the mix to start against Wales now, because if he's kicking well it's tough to make an argument for ROG imo. Good position to be in anyway, because ROG did well today.

its 50/50

justsomebloke

Ok people seem to have an inability to keep to the actual topic thread closed