Nothing is certain yet about who will be Ireland’s next first-choice out-half.
David Humphreys, Ronan O'Gara and Johnny Sexton.
We’re not familiar with this situation. We’re used to seeing one player jump from the pack to wrap his fingers around the shirt and yank it away from all others. Including the existing out-half. It goes back even further to the war between Tony Ward and Ollie Campbell for 10 supremacy. Their hostilities reached the front page of the Evening Press in May 1979 when Campbell was picked to start ahead of Ward for the clash of Ireland and Australia in Brisbane.
And when Humphreys retired in 2006, the path was free and clear for O’Gara to settle in as Ireland’s first choice commander. Under then Ireland manager Declan Kidney, the dial switched over and back between the two until O’Gara’s retirement in 2013. By that stage, Sexton had already banked roughly four years of regular inclusion in the Ireland team, beginning with his debut against Fiji in 2009 before making his first Six Nations start the following year.
But it is perhaps also an indictment of the lack of competition for him. Nobody really came close to stealing his crown. Moreover, none of his potential replacements have built up the level of big-day match experience that he had before he became Ireland’s number one call at 10. That’s a concern going forward.
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