Alun Wyn Jones expressed his delight at witnessing Johnny Sexton, his former Six Nations rival, make a triumphant return for Ireland on an historic day for the No.10 position.
During an impressive display, the fly-half announced his comeback to the Irish team by scoring two tries, catapulting his side to a commanding 74-point win over Romania.
In the course of this remarkable performance, Sexton overtook Ronan O’Gara to become the all-time leading Irish points scorer in World Cup history, accumulating a remarkable tally of 102 World Cup points.
“It is nice to see Johnny back, he’s got his shorts on there on the way to the stadium, he’s definitely ready,” said Jones, who was making his World Cup TV debut for Virgin Media Sport in Ireland.
“What he brings to Ireland’s general attack, there is always an option, there’s always motion. If you pause them, and start again, there is always someone moving (in the Irish attack) because of Johnny.
“He’ll always have an option inside and out, there’ll always be a second line of attack out the back, as a defence, you’ve got a lot of goings on in the picture. Couple that with the set-piece, we know it has been a little bit under pressure, particularly at lineout time. When the set-piece is working, Johnny sits back in the pocket and he conducts the play.
“It’s a tough ask to defend against him, especially when he has a point to prove. And in this first game too, when the team has such intent.”
RUGBY QUIZ:
ALUN WYN JONES: TOUGHEST OPPONENT
#1. Paul O’Connell
Born October 20, 1979, Limerick
Major teams British and Irish Lions, Munster, Ireland
Caps 115
Position Lock
The Irish second row was certainly blessed with special rugby powers having been one of the world’s leading tight forwards for more than a decade. A three-times Lions who captained the tour of South Africa in 2009.
Alun Wyn Jones said: “We got to know each other very well as team-mates with the Lions and opponents for our clubs and countries. You cannot shy away from how effective the guy was in his position.”
Did you know? O’Connell initially excelled at swimming and only started playing rugby at the age of 16
Source: The Rugby Paper
