Johnny Sexton says Ireland should emulate South Africa in lifting the Webb Ellis Cup earlier than they’ll actually be considered the world’s greatest.
Andy Farrell’s males climbed to the highest of the worldwide rankings on the again of their gorgeous summer time collection win in New Zealand.
Ireland’s standing shall be given a stern examination on Saturday night when the formidable Springboks – rugby’s reigning world champions – go to Dublin.
Captain Sexton admits the achievement places a goal on his aspect’s again however dismissed its significance as he insisted lifting silverware is all that issues.
“Honestly, it’s not something that we really talk about much,” he mentioned. “It’s not a goal to become number one in the world. That might sound stupid.
“In some sports it is – golf, tennis – but in rugby the rankings matter once and it’s three years out from the World Cup (when the World Cup draw is made), which doesn’t make that much sense either.
“We don’t speak about being number one. To be number one in the world, you need to win the World Cup, that’s where the goals are.
“Obviously you want to be the best in Europe, you want to win the Six Nations, those are our goals; it’s nothing to do with being number one and I don’t think many teams read too much into it.
“I know the other teams will probably refer to us now trying to put pressure on it but we don’t speak about it.”
The tantalising Aviva Stadium conflict kicks off Ireland’s autumn schedule, which additionally consists of appointments with Fiji and Australia, and serves as a costume rehearsal for subsequent September’s World Cup pool stage assembly in Paris.
While Sexton talked down the significance of the world rankings, he expects the Springboks to make use of it as a motivating issue as they try to “mess up” the hosts.
The influential fly-half believes Ireland should surpass the scintillating performances which toppled the All Blacks as a way to mastermind one other headline-grabbing victory.
“We have to give them the respect that they absolutely deserve,” the 37-year-old mentioned of three-time world champions South Africa.
“They’re the best team in the world in terms of they’re world champions. They’re a top-class team.
“They’ve obviously won the World Cup, they beat the (British and Irish) Lions (in 2021) and had some big results over the last few years, so in terms of testing ourselves it’s huge.
“We need to bring our game and make sure we do it even better because when you have a couple of results like we did in the summer teams start to properly look at you and they go, ‘how are we going to mess up this Ireland team? How are we going to combat this?’.
“We’ve got to do it better and we’ve got to evolve a little bit and make sure we bring something new to the table.”
Ireland have by no means progressed past the quarter-final stage at a World Cup.
Regardless of the results of his nation’s first assembly with the Springboks since 2017, Sexton expects it to be a helpful expertise for future challenges.
“If we got a win on Saturday it would be great; if we don’t then we learn from it,” he mentioned. “We’re going to learn both ways.
“We’re going to see what it’s like to play against this type of team, we haven’t played against them in a few years and I think it’s what we need.”
Source: www.unbiased.co.uk