The clock was deep into the red at the Stade de France on Saturday evening when Johnny Sexton launched a kick which will live long in the memory of Irish sport.
Michael Aylwin, writing for The Guardian, said Sexton's kick was one of the most daring the tournament has seen.
Now with Munster-esque relentlessness, Ireland nigh on 40 phases through the rain without so much as a fumble. Such was the French defence, they merely crept forward to the 10-metre line, but it was enough. Forty-two seconds into the third minute of overtime, Sexton called for the ball. From 45 metres out he landed one of the boldest drop goals in Six Nations history to steal what ended up an outrageous win.
Writing for The Telegraph, Tom Cary expressed a similar sentiment.
It may not have been as improbable as Zinzan Brooke’s effort in the 1995 World Cup, as monstrous as Stephen Larkham’s for Australia at Twickenham four years later, or as iconic as Jonny Wilkinson’s in Sydney in 2003. But if Ireland do go on to claim this Six Nations on St Patrick’s Day at Twickenham in March – and they must feel destiny is on their side now – they will have Johnny Sexton to thank for an utterly outrageous 42-metre drop-goal in the final knockings of this mostly drab contest. It must go down as one of the finest ever struck.
In the Sunday Times, Stuart Barnes said that the game was given a conclusion which it did not merit.
Paradoxically it was probably as predictable as anything that the late Irish multi-phase drive and the epic Sexton kick was exactly how this most methodical of teams would grind out the belated glory.
This was as thrilling a finish as one could imagine but it did not disguise the dreary nature of the match.
Ben James of WalesOnline wrote that Sexton proved his nerves of steel with the cross-kick to Keith Earls during the 41-phase move which led to his drop goal. The kick itself, it is said, proved his class.
The first 79 minutes had been largely forgettable, especially compared to the lively match that proceeded it in Cardiff between Wales and Scotland, but the final three minutes saw Sexton prove his world-class status as he marched Ireland down the field before nailing a game-winning drop-goal from 45-metres out.
Photo by Ramsey Cardy/Sportsfile
