Joe Schmidt rejected the notion of Johnny Sexton taking an extended break after he suffered a hamstring injury against the All Blacks.
Asked if Sexton needed some time on the sidelines to help alleviate injury issues and give his hamstring time to recover, Schmidt replied that his outhalf had injured ‘the other one’.
“I think having time out of the game won’t necessarily solve that,” Schmidt added.
Following Ireland’s gritty 27-24 victory over Australia, Schmidt appeared to be reconsidering the best options for Sexton. He said:
“I got asked last week does he need a window of time to really make sure that he can be more robust and that’s probably one of the things that comes up for discussion now that this window is over,” said Schmidt.
“So, some of those discussions will take place and we’ll have a clearer picture after that.”
Although he is a Leinster player, Sexton has a national contract with the IRFU. The union invariably sides with the best interests of the player, national team and club, in that order.
Leinster are set to play Newport Gwent Dragons on Saturday and Sexton is unlikely to take any part. Whether or not he features in either of Leinster’s Champions Cup fixtures with Northampton Saints is another matter entirely.
Sexton has played four times for Leinster this season having returned from summer surgery on his shoulder and dealing with a tight [left] hamstring issue. The province will be hopeful that their other Ireland outhalf Joey Carbery, who played emergency fullback against Australia, will be cleared to play Dragons this weekend.
Dick Clerkin makes his GAA Hour debut to talk about a wonderful career and argue passionately with Colm Parkinson over Sky Sports GAA. Subscribe here on iTunes.
