Murphy has no worries over Sexton's place kicking

JONATHAN SEXTON had a place-kicking success rate of 90 per cent during last season’s Heineken Cup, while his overall return for Leinster’s 2010/11 campaign was 83 per cent.

That is Dan Carter and Morne Steyn territory.

Yet, Sexton’s return of just seven from 15 attempts on goal at the recent World Cup resulted in a shuddering statistical dip to 47 per cent.

The three missed kicks against Australia ultimately prompted Declan Kidney to drop him for the last two pool games.

In contrast, Ronan O’Gara’s display against Italy ensured he retained the number 10 jersey for the quarter-final defeat to Wales (O’Gara landed 18 from 21 shots at the tournament for an 86 per cent success rate).

Richie Murphy, the Leinster skills and kicking coach, was asked yesterday to discuss the disparity in these numbers.

Murphy previously addressed the two-from-six return Sexton posted against the USA on September 11th when confirming he had spoken to the outhalf the next day and that there was “no intentional change in kicking style or technique”.

This was debated and contested.

With Munster and O’Gara coming to the Aviva Stadium tomorrow night and with Murphy presented to the media, there could only really be one theme up for discussion.

“There was no change in what he was actually trying to achieve,” said the assistant coach. “I wasn’t (in New Zealand) so I can’t really say what he was doing, but when he came back it was just a case of back to the tried and tested.

“His technique is his technique, it had never changed, as in what he was trying to do, so we just went back and started there.”

Fine. But why did this statistical collapse occur? Weather conditions maybe? Choking is a difficult accusation to level at a man who racked up 28 points in last May’s European final.

Perhaps the essential levels of confidence a kicker craves deserted him?

“Possibly a little bit of doubt in his mind when he was over there. I don’t think his confidence has taken a dip. I can only comment on what I see in front of me and the guy that left here, within a couple of days of being back, seems to be back to the same.”

So, no technical tweaks since his return?

“He is doing what he has done before he went away. There is no tweak in his technique. We went back to where we were and he is going forward from there.”

Murphy, a fine kicker himself at club level, has never place-kicked in New Zealand, but a recurring theme did become apparent throughout the tournament.

When Carter, Jonny Wilkinson and Felipe Contepomi all offered up shockers early on, people began to wonder about the official match ball.

England certainly had a problem as they cheated by switching it.

“There is also a situation where some of the kicks he (Sexton) was missing were on the right-hand side,” Murphy explained.

“They were going straight and fading away, but if you looked at (French kicker Dimitri) Yachvili, loads of these kickers, the exact same thing was happening.

“There was a comment by some people, not by Jonny, that the ball didn’t fly as true as a normal Gilbert. I honestly don’t know.”

Last weekend at a blustery Murrayfield, Sexton posted seven from nine to guide Leinster to a 36-28 victory over Edinburgh. One of the missed kicks was down to being over the allotted time.

Usually, Sexton’s routine takes between 27 and 30 seconds. He looked sharp and close to the 80 percentile bracket he strives to exist in.

“He struck the ball very well. He missed two, got seven from nine, but one of them we know what it was straight away and the other was probably a little doubt in the mind at what the wind was doing.

“It was quite windy in the stadium. When you are standing on the sideline you couldn’t feel what it was doing, but when you are actually out on the pitch there was quite a bit of wind blowing around Murrayfield. He got caught out on that one.”

There was wind in Edinburgh and wind in New Plymouth. For some reason, Sexton struggled more in New Zealand.

As Shane Jennings felt obliged to interrupt yesterday as the line of questioning gathered pace, it is a conundrum that only Sexton can explain.

And that can be done without words tomorrow night.

“Since he has come back he has been working hard, no harder than he would have if he had of been over there kicking 100 per cent,” Murphy added.

“He’s fine. I have no doubts he’ll bring it on Friday night.”