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Irish Mirror
Irish Mirror
Sport
Michael Scully

Johnny Sexton believes Ireland can still win Six Nations title after England victory

Johnny Sexton believes Ireland can win more than a Triple Crown at the Aviva Stadium next Saturday.

A record Twickenham victory over 14-man England means that a home win over Scotland in six days will secure Ireland's first Triple Crown since 2018, and only the second of Sexton's career.

But the skipper believes that Six Nations title hopes are still alive for Andy Farrell's side as he predicts England will put it up to France, who are in pole position and one win away from the Grand Slam, in Paris.

"I think England have a great chance, they always do," stressed Sexton.

"England are England, one of the most dominant teams in world rugby, World Cup finalists and they’re rebuilding now but still beat Australia and South Africa recently.

"England can do a lot of damage next week."

Sexton, playing in his last Six Nations game in London, led Ireland to a bizarre bonus point 32-15 triumph.

The Red Rose lost second row Charlie Ewels to a second minute red card but the 14-men demolished Ireland in the scrum and, winning 15 penalties in total, they drew level with the visitors with 19 minutes remaining.

However late tries by replacements Jack Conan and Finlay Bealham secured the five points and only the second Ireland victory over the old enemy in 10 years.

Afterwards England boss Eddie Jones claimed his side weren't properly rewarded for their scrum dominance as Ireland weren't shown a yellow card.

For their part, the visitors claimed that England were wheeling the scrum illegally.

"I’ve had lots of bizarre matches," said Sexton. "It was a good Test match. You never have an easy game here.

"They have lost only eight here in 20 years, it’s incredibly tough. When you come here you need to play your best, and it was a mixed performance from us.

"But it was outstanding for the lads to stick to the task and it will be very important in the championship race.

"We didn’t get the performance we wanted during the game but we got glimpses of it."

However the 36-year-old added: "Two years ago, we would have lost that game.

"At 15-15, we wouldn't have had the composure to regroup, but the mental skills development that we've done over the last couple of years really stood to us. Even in the week, we prepared for things like this.

"That the positive out of it. What do you learn? When things can distract you like a team going to 14 men, you need to focus on doing the basics really well.

"At times, we just forced a couple of things. Those things were on so it was probably execution more than decision-making. At other times, we didn't play. We tried to kick the ball or didn't shift it to the edge where the space was.

"There's a lot to take out of it and we'll build towards next week now.

"We have a chance to win a Triple Crown chance at home in the Aviva, we very rarely have had a chance to play for something in front of our home crowd. Often when we have, it's been away from home.

"There's a big week ahead of us but we'll learn plenty. It will be all focused on Scotland now."

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