Johnny Sexton Andy Farrell Joe Schmidt county Day Ireland New Zealand state Indiana Six Nations Sport Rugby Farrell as Johnny Sexton Andy Farrell Joe Schmidt county Day Ireland New Zealand state Indiana

Andy Farrell hails captain Johnny Sexton as Ireland's best ever after Six Nations triumph

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Andy Farrell declared Johnny Sexton as the best to ever play for Ireland as they capped off a dominant Six Nations campaign with a Grand Slam title.The Ireland captain was perfect off the tee in the 29-16 win against England, slotting three conversions and a penalty, surpassing Ronan O'Gara as the championship's all-time record scorer on 566 points.It's a second Grand Slam title for the 37-year-old on the pitch, while he was also involved as an uncapped player in the 2009 success, the latest title being his first as captain.And after watching his out-half lift the trophy, Farrell had the ultimate compliment to pay his skipper on what was his final appearance in the championship."It's unbelievably fitting that, in my opinion, the best player ever to play for Ireland is able to sign off on a Grand Slam on St Patrick's Day, in front of his home crowd," Farrell said of Sexton."For captain Johnny here to finish his Six Nations campaign; he's been saying all week that this is what dreams are made of, it doesn't come around that often."There's a lot of stars that have aligned over the last eight weeks and accumulated into this evening."It's a second Grand Slam involvement for Farrell, and a first since taking the head coach job from Joe Schmidt following the 2019 Rugby World Cup.Under his stewardship Ireland have now added a Grand Slam title to their Test series win in New Zealand, extending their winning run to ten games, and are unbeaten at the Aviva Stadium for more than two years.And the Englishman struggled to find the words to sum up his emotions after the game."I don't know whether to laugh or cry," he said."It’s a weird feeling at this moment in time.

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