When it comes to elite fly-halves raging against the dying of the light, nobody set the bar as high as Johnny Sexton. For physical and mental endurance, he stands alone.
By taking Dylan Thomas at his word about daring ‘not to go gently into that good night’, the Dubliner kept putting heart and mind through the wringer until he achieved what many considered impossible, one last World Cup in his 39th year.
Where Sexton stood four summers ago, Beauden Barrett stands now, hanging on for a final global hurrah.
The most striking difference between them is to be found in comparing where Sexton sto...