{"id":338697,"date":"2023-10-14T22:31:19","date_gmt":"2023-10-14T22:31:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=338697"},"modified":"2023-10-15T00:01:12","modified_gmt":"2023-10-15T00:01:12","slug":"sons-heartbreaking-words-cap-off-icons-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=338697","title":{"rendered":"Son&#039;s heartbreaking words cap off icon&#039;s career"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&quot;You&#x27;re still the best dad.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>You couldn&#x27;t hear it \u2013 but it was easy enough to read the lips of Johnny Sexton&#x27;s son who comforted him as the reality of the situation set in.<\/p>\n<p>Ireland didn&#x27;t do quite enough to beat New Zealand, downed 28-24 at Stade de France to continue a dreaded run of Rugby World Cup quarter-final exits.<\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Watch all the action from Rugby World Cup 2023 on the home of rugby, Stan Sport.<\/strong><\/em> <a href=\"https:\/\/9.nine.com.au\/iMuQ4a\"><em><strong>Every match ad free, live and on demand in 4K UHD<\/strong><\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It marked the ninth instance in 10 tournaments that Ireland have gotten to the knockout stage before stumbling.<\/p>\n<p><img data-id=\"5594455e-e699-4a49-ab0f-28c39c646312\" src=\"https:\/\/prod.static9.net.au\/fs\/5594455e-e699-4a49-ab0f-28c39c646312\" alt=\"Ireland&#x27;s Johnny Sexton with his son after their loss to New Zealand in the quarter-finals.\" data-width=\"4735\" data-height=\"3157\" \/><\/p>\n<p>That will likely be the last act for Sexton, whose career is set to come to an end after the tournament.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;The last couple of years, in a green jersey anyway, have been the most enjoyable of my career \u2013 definitely, &quot; said Sexton.<\/p>\n<p><strong>AS IT HAPPENED:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/rugby\/world-cup-2023-live-scores-ireland-new-zealand-all-blacks-quarterfinal-results-news-highlights\/729c2c6f-e91c-43de-a220-f20c4fe4653a\" target=\"\" title=\"\ufeffIreland vs All Blacks in World Cup quarter-final\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>\ufeffIreland vs All Blacks in World Cup quarter-final<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/horse-racing\/news-2023-the-everest-think-about-it-winner-results-royal-randwick\/bd5f759a-88a1-4476-adc5-102352419667\" target=\"\" title=\"&#x27;Unbelievable&#x27; run takes out $20 million Everest race\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><strong>&#x27;Unbelievable&#x27; run takes out $20 million Everest<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ MORE:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/wwos.nine.com.au\/news\/news-2023-cristiano-ronaldo-reportedly-facing-99-lashes-in-iran-for-adultery\/f9fe9a3e-9ba6-4f26-9884-77fcf3373037\" target=\"\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\" title=\"&#x27;Unfounded&#x27; Ronaldo adultery claims blasted\"><strong>&#x27;Unfounded&#x27; Ronaldo adultery claims blasted<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&quot;It&#x27;s an incredible place to be and that&#x27;s what I&#x27;ll miss the most. But grateful as well, sitting here at 38, I&#x27;ve had a few ups and downs.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&#x27;ll probably reflect on it a bit more in the next couple of weeks, and take a bit of time off and spend time with my family and see what happens.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><img data-video-id=\"6339152232112\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pickerimage-70.jpg\" alt=\"New Zealand stun Ireland with final act\" data-vms-id=\"ref:clnqipg6h00980ip7389kf2n6\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Sexton lamented his side&#x27;s inability to stop New Zealand&#x27;s try-scoring opportunities.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;It&#x27;s gutting, isn&#x27;t it? The last six weeks have been incredible, the support, the way we&#x27;ve played. The combination of both. It&#x27;s been a dream come true \u2013 and that includes today,&quot; he added.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I just felt they didn&#x27;t have to work hard for their tries. It was almost like we were sucker-punched a couple of times, but I&#x27;m not taking anything away from them, they are a quality team.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;The way we had to work harder for our scores and to have the upper hand in a lot of parts of the game, then to concede the try that we did in the second hand, but then to fight back just shows the character of the team. They&#x27;re an incredible bunch really.&quot;<\/p>\n<p><img data-video-id=\"6339148709112\" src=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/pickerimage-71.jpg\" alt=\"Bundee Aki bursts through for Ireland\" data-vms-id=\"ref:clnqfwl7y00a20jsbki903iu3\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Among the players he paid tribute to was Keith Earls, who will also retire after this year.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Legend,&quot; said Sexton.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;One of my best mates, not just in rugby but in life. Spent a lot of time with his family. Top-class human being, legend of a bloke.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Gutting that he picked up an injury at a bad time so he couldn&#x27;t be involved in the last few weeks. He&#x27;ll go down as one of the best.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>New Zealand will take on Argentina on October 21 at 6am. The other semi-final will be set between the winners of Fiji vs England and France vs South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>&quot;You&#x27;re still the best dad.&quot; You couldn&#x27;t hear it \u2013 but it was easy enough to read the lips of Johnny Sexton&#x27;s son who comforted <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=338697\" title=\"Son&#039;s heartbreaking words cap off icon&#039;s career\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":338699,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338697"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=338697"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338697\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338704,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338697\/revisions\/338704"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/338699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=338697"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=338697"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=338697"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}