Sexton: Anytime You Go To Twickenham Is A Huge Challenge

As they prepare to face England in the middle round of the Guinness Men’s Six Nations, Jonathan Sexton has full confidence in Ireland’s out-halves that they will ‘hit their best form and be in a good place in the games to come’.

This is Sexton’s first Six Nations in a full-time assistant coach role, having previously worked with the Ireland Men’s squad in a part-time coaching capacity since the 2024 Autumn Nations Series. He became a permanent member of the IRFU’s coaching staff last August.

Sam Prendergast, Jack Crowley, Ciarán Frawley, and Harry Byrne are the four out-halves in Ireland’s extended Six Nations squad, with Prendergast, who turned 23 last week, starting the opening two clashes with France and Italy.

Crowley came on to good effect at number 10 during last Saturday’s 20-13 win over Italy, and no matter who gets the starting position, Sexton just wants the group of out-halves to continue to push hard for selection and progress in all aspects of their game.

Speaking about Prendergast and Crowley, he said: “They both trained really well today. It’s important, I suppose, that not only those two but you know, (Ciarán) Frawley and Harry Byrne as well, that they keep developing and that they get game-time.

“So there are four guys and I suppose all the criticism for previous cycles, World Cup cycles, was that we didn’t develop guys, and we relied too heavily on one (player) in some positions.

“We’re doing it a different way now and whether that’s right or wrong, everyone judges it a lot of the time by the outcome, but I know that in games to come, they’re going to hit their best form and they’ll be in a good place.”

Prendergast has been the preferred option for much of the last year, making four starts during his first Six Nations campaign in 2025. He was the Championship’s third top scorer with 44 points, as Andy Farrell’s men won four matches and claimed their third Triple Crown in four years.

With an impressive performance for Munster against Leinster before coming into Ireland camp last autumn, Crowley (26) started against New Zealand and Japan in November, scoring 20 points, including his third Test try.

In the 2024 Six Nations, immediately after Sexton’s retirement, the Cork native was ever-present at out-half as Ireland became back-to-back champions. He was the tournament’s third top scorer (52 points), and started both games of the drawn series with South Africa before Prendergast’s emergence.

That 2024 summer tour saw the versatile Frawley star as the drop goal hero against the Springboks in Durban. He has since had opportunities off the bench against New Zealand, Fiji, and Portugal, with a move to Connacht in the summer set to see him feature more at out-half at provincial level.

Meanwhile, Byrne’s resurgent form at Leinster – with 76 points scored in 11 appearances this season, including seven starts at out-half – earned him an international recall. Last capped by Ireland in 2024, he kicked a last-gasp match-winning penalty against La Rochelle last month.

“All four of them are very good, they’ve all got their different strengths, and as coaches I think we are trying to make sure that we have lots of options going to a World Cup, try and learn from previous cycles and make sure that we get them all a certain number of caps,” explained Sexton.

“We need to make sure that we see their form in different pressurised situations, in different venues against different opposition, and yeah, I’m sure it will be like that for the foreseeable.”

The former Ireland captain and 2018 World Rugby Player of the Year said there is a collaborative approach in terms of coaches and players reviewing matches, a tried-and-trusted approach that served him well during his own playing days.

As much as Prendergast and Crowley would have wanted to focus on their brightest moments from the hard-earned triumph over Italy, they have not gotten to this level of the game without learning the hard way from their own mistakes, whether that be missed kicks or plays that did not come off.

Out-halves are often their own harshest critics, and they will no doubt raise the bar again, both in training and in the white heat of the Test arena, to ensure that individual errors are not repeated.

For Sexton and his fellow coaches, it is important to give some proper time for self reflection rather than rushing in to provide advice or constructive criticism. The man management extends to what they can do better both from a player and coach’s point of view.

“We wouldn’t say too much (to the players) straight after the game. We let things die down, then review it. We review it together very much. Those guys feed back to us as much as we feed back to them.

“Ultimately, we want to know why. Why some things went well, what can we do differently in our prep? As coaches, what do we need to do more of? All those type of things.

“Both of them (Prendergast and Crowley) did some really good things, some work-ons, and some things they need to improve. It’ll be like that for the rest of their careers right to the last day. It’s always like that.

“Even if I go back to my own experiences, you come off the pitch, sometimes you think you’ve had a great game.

“But you get into a Monday review and the coaches have a few other ideas in terms of how things have gone. So, yeah, they’ll learn from it and keep developing like they have been.”

Sexton ended his playing career with a 50% win record against England. Winning the Grand Slam at Twickenham in 2018 was certainly a highlight of his eight victories over English sides, along with his 22-point haul in the 2021 success, and sealing the Grand Slam at home against them in 2023.

Ireland have won on five occasions away to England in the Six Nations (2004, 2006, 2010, 2018, and 2022), and Sexton was involved in three of those. The five wins in London are just one fewer than every other team combined – France, Scotland, and Wales have won twice each at Twickenham.

“Anytime you go to Twickenham is a huge challenge. No matter where you are or what stage of a World Cup cycle you’re in, it’s always a big challenge.

“I think we’ll take some good learnings from the French game. I think it will be important to learn some lessons from that.

“And make sure we turn up, put our game-plan into place, but also have the intent that we need to have when we go to an away venue like this,” added the Dubliner.

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