At teatime in Dublin on Saturday a nation will hold its breath as Conor Murray zips out his first pass to Johnny Sexton and Ireland’s fly-half runs into the jaws of the French defence. Lurking with intent will be Mathieu Bastareaud, France’s behemoth centre, who will be keen to let Sexton know he is still around.
Last March in Paris it was a tackle from Bastareaud that knocked Sexton cold. Sexton still scored two tries and his 17 points helped Ireland win the Six Nations title but four bouts of concussion in a year led to Sexton taking a 12-week break from the game in the autumn. He returns to duty on Saturday at the end of a week in which the way Wales have dealt with George North’s blow to the head against England and his subsequent absence from their team to travel to Edinburgh has cast a worrying shadow over the tournament.
Sexton, the 29-year-old Lions No10, is the one player who is indispensable to this Irish side, according to Ronan O’Gara, the man he replaced as fly-half.
No wonder Joe Schmidt, the Ireland head coach, would like to put Sexton in a box of cotton wool on Saturday evening rather than send him back to France, where his club Racing Métro face Clermont Auvergne before England come calling next month.
No wonder Ireland are counting the days until Sexton leaves his Parisian club this summer to rejoin Leinster after his two-year sojourn in France.
Schmidt has expressed his concerns in the past over Sexton’s working schedule in the increasingly brutal world of France’s Top 14 competition. If a giant such as North can be felled, the past year has been a concern for the more slightly built Sexton. “Yes, it is a concern looking down the line but we’re very much focused on this weekend,” said Schmidt. “With Racing going to Clermont next week, I’m sure they’ll want to put their best side out, so that’s far from ideal but it’s not a circumstance we can control.
“It’s as much a risk to start Johnny as it is to start anyone else. Johnny is very fit, he’s done a lot of training with us. He has spent the last 12 weeks training. He just hasn’t done any contact. He’s done plenty of contact work this week, though, and he’s primed and ready to go.”
Fears over their star man aside, Ireland are buoyant, despite the slightly scratchy nature of their win in Rome last Saturday. Their hooker Rory Best has come through the concussion protocols after receiving a bang on the head in the 26-3 victory over the Italians, Jamie Heaslip and Sean O’Brien return to the back row after injury and Ireland’s best prop Cian Healy is back to take his place on the bench. Isaac Boss retains his place on the bench, despite Eoin Reddan’s return to fitness.
Even Philippe Saint-André recognises that his side are the underdogs, with the France coach saying: “Ireland are formidable. They have won eight games in a row and it will be a very difficult game.”
Schmidt has dispensed with last weekend’s starting fly-half, Ian Keatley, with Ian Madigan, who replaced him for the last 15 minutes in Rome, keeping his place on the bench. Keatley was magnanimous to concede this week that Sexton should replace him when fit but his coach stressed Sexton will not be the only able fly-half on the pitch on Saturday. Schmidt said: “Camille Lopez is a very good player. He’s intuitive and instinctive and that allows them to play in a number of different ways and we’re prepared for the various ways the French can play.”
Ireland know that the return of O’Brien will help them compete with this big French pack. The Leinster flanker tweaked a hamstring in last weekend’s warm-up in Rome and he now has the chance to make his first Test appearance since November 2013. Schmidt has no qualms about selecting Best. “He’s ticked all the boxes of the protocols of the return to play,” added the coach. “We just kept Sean Cronin and Richardt Strauss ready in case we had to.”
Saint-André makes only one change from the side that laboured to a 15-8 win over Scotland, with Eddy Ben Arous coming in at loose-head prop for the injured Alexandre Menini. Saint-André, who is yet to taste victory over Ireland as a coach, will be more concerned with the performance of his misfiring backline in Dublin.
The attention will be on their bench, which will be in danger of collapsing with the 24-stone prop Uini (ironically pronounced weeny) Atonio next to another giant in Romain Taofifénua. Atonio, who plays for La Rochelle and was once a Samoan Under-20 international, may be able to kick sand in the face of Jonah Lomu but France will need the subtlety of Lopez as well as all this power if they are to overcome Ireland.
Ireland R Kearney, T Bowe, J Payne, R Henshaw, S Zebo, J Sexton, C Murray; J McGrath, R Best, M Ross, D Toner, P O’Connell (capt), P O’Mahony, S O’Brien, J Heaslip. Replacements S Cronin, C Healy, M Moore, I Henderson, J Murphy, I Boss, I Madigan, F Jones.
France S Spedding, Y Huget, M Bastareaud, W Fofana, T Thomas, C Lopez, R Kockott; E Ben Arous, G Guirado, R Slimani, P Papé, Y Maestri, T Dusautoir (capt), D Chouly, B Le Roux. Replacements B Kayser, U Atonio, V Debaty, R Taofifénua, L Goujon, M Parra, R Talès, R Lamerat
