“It’s because he cares.”

Ireland international Iain Henderson has told provincial teammate Jacob Stockdale not to take it “personal“ after Johnny Sexton was seen losing the plot with him a little bit after he failed to take a pass in the win over Italy last weekend.

Sexton was seen saying “fucking catch the fucking ball” as we came off the pitch to be replaced by Jack Carty in reference to Stockdale’s error.

But Henderson says it’s because Sexton “cares so much” and that he “got shouted at by Johnny loads of times.” The lock said it used to get him a first but understands now why he does it.

Sexton himself came out and apologised for his outburst this week.

“The number of times you see Johnny shouting or looking like he’s angry, everyone has trained with him enough to know that he’s not losing his head, it’s just because he cares,” said Henderson.

“When we’ve trained stuff and it doesn’t go that way in games, he wants it to be perfect. He cares so much. He gets like that in training and you know it’s for the greater good of the squad, his drive.

“Nearly all the players understand that. When he does flip out or having his shouting moment, it’s to make us better. It’s not personal. As a younger player in the squad, I got shouted at by Johnny loads of times.

“It used to get to me a wee bit, but I remember it being explained to me that he’s doing it because he cares so much. He wants everything to go perfectly. When he does do it, it’s a kick up the arse for us to get things right.”

[Independent.ie]