Chatty men Sexton and Biggar give refs earache

PETER JACKSON

THE MAN TRULY IN THE KNOW

The most argumentative of fly-halves to be found in Europe, or anywhere else for that matter, are clearing their throats for a chat show like no other. Johnny Sexton, the supreme inquisitor of referees, goes head-to-head in Dublin on Saturday week with his No.1 challenger, Dan Biggar, in what ought to be almost as much a Test of attitude as tactical nous. The boisterous Welshman's elevation to the national captaincy alongside his Irish opposite number will give Jaco Peyper's hearing a severe test.

The 41-year-old South African referee will probably consider that more of a threat than a promise. Whatever the outcome on the scoreboard, Peyper will do well to survive the double-sided interrogation without a severe dose of earache.

Sexton queries on-field decisions with the same ruthless attitude which he brings to every facet of his game, a ‘don't-mess-with-me' state of mind reinforced by the armband which he inherited following Rory Best's retirement after the last World Cup. Biggar has served a turbulent apprenticeship without bothering to wait for any insignia of authority.

There was a time, not so long ago, when some of the Red Dragon hierarchy deemed his chirping to have been counter-productive. Biggar, not known for taking kindly to criticism, earned a public rebuke for his running commentary to New Zealand referee Glen Jackson during the Ireland-Wales fixture four years ago.

Martyn Williams, whose century of caps in the back row has made him a revered figure in Wales and beyond, advised the lippy fly-half to button it. “It's something he has to take out of his game,'' Williams told Scrum V on BBC Wales the day after Wales had conceded five tries and all five points.

“For 60 minutes of that game he didn't stop complaining. At this level, that is unacceptable. Senior players have to say: ‘50-50 calls might go to the other team because you constantly complain.' They have to pull him aside and say: ‘Dan, you're killing us'.''

Then on the outside as a pundit, Williams is now on the inside as team manager. His advice ought to be as pertinent today as it was then in helping soften Biggar's tone, irrespective of how much more wisdom he has acquired in the last four years.

Sam Warburton's courteous manner came naturally to him and it usually kept referees on-side, most famously Romain Poite at the end of the 2017 Lions series in New Zealand. Alun Wyn Jones managed to tone down a more confrontational approach through time without ever getting close to Warburton's winning diplomacy.

In short, Biggar needs to sound a lot less like Roy Keane and a bit more like Gareth Southgate. Softening his line of questioning and controlling the volume button in his dealings with referees has to be in the best interests of the team as a whole.

Biggar, at 32 four years younger than Sexton, is smart enough to know that. No Welsh fly-half of the professional era can have worked harder at his game and Wayne Pivac's anointment of the Northampton Saint brings the acid test of the new captain's ability to steer the ship when the waves come crashing in from all sides.

He is unlikely to achieve that by attempting to upstage his opposite number at his own game. Sexton won't change his abrasive manner, not because he's an old dog averse to new tricks but because he will argue that it works for him, and his team.

“Biggar needs to sound less like Roy Keane and more like Gareth Southgate”

Sexton doesn't stand on ceremony. He demands as much of the referee, rightly so, as he does of himself and those around him. To put it bluntly, he doesn't believe in pussy-footing.

At Murrayfield last year, during a tense match which Sexton won with a late penalty, he said to the referee, Poite: “You are going to reverse the penalty.''

It was less a question, more an order. During a Leinster-Munster match, he told Poite's compatriot, Pascal Gauzere: “I'm captain. You have to talk to me. I know you hate me but you have to talk to me.''

Gauzere swiftly disabused Ireland's commander-in-chief of the notion that he hated him. Sexton promptly fired back: “You check everything for them but nothing for us.''

Against Italy last season, Sexton told yet another French referee, Mathieu Raynal: “Just have a look at the screen. It's a try, sir. Look.''

Raynal's riposte? “It's for me to ref, not you. You are captain. Ok? You can ask me questions and I give you the answer. Thank you very much. End of discussion.''

Another ‘discussion', when Wales were last in Dublin two years ago, centred around Biggar. While the Welsh marksman tied his laces before taking a conversion in front of the posts, Sexton used the interlude to complain that the TMO had done his team a disservice.

He asked the referee, again M Poite: “Who's reffing the game? Who's reffing the game?

Poite: “Me.''

Sexton: “It's not the off-load we talked about. It's the one before it.''

Poite, issuing his statements in duplicate to minimise any ambiguity: “We checked both. We checked both.

That's enough. That's enough.''

It may be merely a matter of time before Peyper makes precisely the same point at having been peppered with one complaint too many. Whatever transpires, he will take care to avoid posing for selfies with Welsh fans.

He did that in Japan shortly after sending Sebastian Vahamaahina off for elbowing Aaron Wainwright in the face, a red card which undermined French superiority and allowed Wales to scramble into their third World Cup semi-final. While the ill-advised photo cost Peyper any further involvement in the tournament, that will be the least of his worries come Saturday week.