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WATCH: Sexton ‘losing it’ set path for indisciplined Leinster – Keith Wood

Former Ireland captain Keith Wood had some strong words for the current incumbent, Johnny Sexton,...



Rugby

WATCH: Sexton ‘losing it’ set path for indisciplined Leinster – Keith Wood

Former Ireland captain Keith Wood had some strong words for the current incumbent, Johnny Sexton, after Leinster's defeat to Munster over the weekend.

James Lowe was red-carded for a tackle on Andrew Conway, and Leinster's general discipline has come under scrutiny ever since, and Keith gave Wednesday Night Rugby his thoughts on the matter.

“They psychological phrase is over-arousal [...] I thought Johnny had lost it very, very quickly.

“Sometimes when one guy is like that, the next guy is, and the next guy. It is almost like when you have one bad pass, then you have another bad pass and you are just out of kilter a little bit.

“ I would say the same for it being pre-ordained: I don’t think that is the case. They just had no composure.  They had built themselves up to have a fight or a battle of some sort and they were emotionally at that level, and couldn’t seem to get down from it.”

Keith believes that Sexton should have been given a yellow card for his reaction to a tackle from Munster’s Fineen Wycherley.

“I know you’re not allowed to do anything with the head, or in and around the face, so pulling off the headgear could have been [a booking]. It would have been a big call.

“It’s a hard call for a guy from there [Frank Murphy, from Cork] to ref them.

“I think he almost lost a bit of control because Leinster had lost control. If you had a very senior referee then he would have had a better level of control on him. But I would have stood behind the vast majority of his decisions.

“I thought it was a bit ugly, and I like having a bit of the bite back in, but I thought some of it went a bit too far.”

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Ireland Johnny Sexton Leinster Munster Munster Rugby Rugby Rugby Union Sexton