Six Nations 2022: Sexton excited to renew 'friendly' hostilities with Wales
- Published
Wales have won 70 of the 132 men's test matches played between the two sides
Six Nations: Ireland v Wales |
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Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin Date: Saturday, 5 February Kick-off: 14:15 GMT |
Coverage: Live commentary on BBC Radio Ulster, BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru, BBC Radio 5 Live Sports Extra. Live Audio and text commentary on the BBC Sport website and app. Live on S4C. |
Johnny Sexton says the familiarity between Ireland and Wales players ensures games between the sides always carry an edge, but that the rivalry is not as "nasty" as it once was.
The nations will meet for the 133rd time in men's Test rugby in Saturday's Six Nations opener in Dublin.
Wales won last year's meeting in Cardiff but have not claimed victory at the Aviva Stadium since 2015.
"With us and Wales there have been big battles over the years," Sexton said.
"The rivalry - I think in my early days especially - there was a nastier side to it. Now when you talk about rivalries in sport: Leinster-Munster, all the provinces, we have that rivalry because you don't like losing to the guys closest to you.
"There's probably a little bit of an element of that with the Welsh boys that they get on so well with the Irish boys on Lions tours and after games.
"When you've got relationships like that you don't want to lose to the people you're closest with.
"Not all rivalries are like that. Some of them you're just not close to the other people and you want to beat them."
Sexton is set to lead Ireland out in his third Six Nations campaign as captain and will line up opposite newly-named Wales skipper Dan Biggar - with whom he formed a good bond on the 2017 Lions tour of New Zealand.
"We've had some great battles over the years, he's a great pal of mine and the captaincy is something he deserves thoroughly," said Sexton.
"He's led from the front since 2015 when he made the jersey his own and he's been the mainstay of the team."
'Not one ounce' of Irish complacency despite Welsh injuries
Injury-ravaged Wales will arrive in Dublin without a long list of senior players, while Ireland by contrast have a clean bill of health in their squad as Tadhg Furlong, James Ryan and Iain Henderson returned to full training on Tuesday.
Alun Wyn Jones, Ken Owens, Justin Tipuric, Taulupe Faletau, Josh Navidi, Dan Lydiate, George North and Leigh Halfpenny, who have more than 700 Test caps between them, are all unavailable through injury for the reigning champions.
Despite this, and the contrasting fortunes of the nations' club sides in the European Champions Cup, Sexton was quick to dismiss the suggestion that Ireland carry an advantage going into Saturday.
"I'm not going to say that because then I'm insulting the guys coming in and I think the guys that are coming in are excellent players," he said.
"The guys that are injured of course have big reputations because they've played multiple tests for their country and they've performed week in, week out but these other guys that are coming in at the start of their journey can go on and have the same careers as the guys ahead of them.
"There's not one ounce of complacency in our squad. We haven't spoken too much about who they're missing; we've spoken about who they've got.
"They played November with a lot of the same injuries and they picked up some good results with good performances. They had their injury issues in the Six Nations last year and they ended up winning it so we haven't spoken about it too much."