Former Ireland captain Johnny Sexton claims he was shocked by the fallout after snitching on All Black Rieko Ioane in his autobiography.
The Ireland legend is doing the podcast rounds after the release of his book Obsessed. Extracts of the book were released in the Times newspaper and the headlines were explosive and reignited his feud with the All Blacks from last year’s World Cup.
Sexton claims Ioane told him to “get back 10 metres” as Sam Whitelock won a match-winning penalty in their quarterfinal, before also adding “don’t miss your flight tomorrow. Enjoy your retirement, you c–t”.
Speaking to the BBC’s Rugby Union Weekly, Sexton said he thought about leaving the comments out of the book but he wanted to explain himself.
Rieko Ioane of New Zealand celebrates victory at full-time following the Rugby World Cup France 2023 Quarter Final match between Ireland and New Zealand at Stade de France on October 14, 2023 in Paris, France. (Photo by Hannah Peters/Getty Images)
“I do care, like I do care [about what people think],” said Sexton. “But like I said, the most important are your teammates or the people in your country.
“But I was a bit shocked by the reaction. I toyed with taking it out, putting it in.
“But the reason for putting it in was not giving out, this is just what happened.
“I was criticised after the game for my reaction, because people thought ‘oh here’s your man being a sore loser again’. But they didn’t see what set me off.
“So it was me explaining why.”
Sexton further explained himself on The Good, The Bad and the Rugby podcast, also released on Thursday (AEDT).
“The worst day for me was last Sunday when it was serialised in the papers, because they just take the sort of one or two words, they don’t look at the broader context,” Sexton said.
On the Ioane claims, he added: “There was a big storm about that, which is never nice.
“I didn’t mention it to kick up a fuss or to sell books. This is just what I was thinking at the time. This is just what happened. I don’t think badly of [Ioane] over it. What happened in the heat of battle, I’ve done plenty of things…”
Ioane hit back at Sexton on social media, albeit with the use of emojis and the section of The Cranberries song Zombie which repeats the line “in your head”.
“That’s what I don’t want. I don’t want a tit-for-tat. It wasn’t that. It’s not the intention. It’s just to explain, because I was getting criticised for my reaction at the time,” Sexton said.
“The camera pans to me, the final whistle’s gone, I’m chasing after someone, looking like a sore loser, which is probably true. I was just trying to explain, this is just what happened in the heat of the moment. It’s not a problem from my point of view, but this is just it.
Asked if he might one day share a joke or handshake with the All Blacks star, he responded: “I’d have no problem. No problem at all. I don’t think… If he’s putting it up on social media, I don’t think he’d be too interested.”
He said he had copped “a lot of messages from New Zealand.”
“I’m just like, I didn’t do it for this reason, I don’t want to get into it. It’s just a moment in time, just to show how a reaction can be portrayed one way, but this is just what happened in the background.”
