The flick of the eyebrows.

Johnny Sexton and Conor Murray are quickly become one of the best halfback pairings in world rugby history. They may not play together provincially, but something special happens when they get together and put a green jersey on.

The best pairings in the world have a unique ability, to almost telepathically know, what the other man is thinking. O’Gara and Stringer had it, and now Sexton and Murray have it.

41 phases passed before Sexton landed his incredible 42 metre effort yesterday. But how did Murray know when Sexton was finally ready to have a pop? Did he tell him? Of course not. He didn’t need to.

His body language, along with a slight flick of the eyebrow was enough.

“You’ve got a rough idea of the distance he needs for a drop-goal, and then you’re communicating with the forwards but also keeping an eye on him.” Murray said after the game.

“I think it was just a look really. You can judge by his body language, and then he just gave me a flick of the eyebrows to know he needed it, we got a bit of momentum and a quick ruck, and that was perfect for us.

“It’s much more difficult to do when it’s slow and there’s no momentum. The French perhaps thought we would go again with the forwards, so I think we timed it quite well.

“Sometimes it doesn’t work. It’s a really difficult thing to do, so as a 15 I thought it was a really clinical way to close out the game.”