Joe Schmidt has insisted there is no risk in throwing Johnny Sexton into Ireland’s last-eight match with Argentina despite the fly-half’s lingering groin injury.
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Ireland have opted to gamble on throwing in their linchpin fly-half from the start against the Pumas in Cardiff, even though the Leinster pivot has fought a fitness battle all week.
Sexton trudged out of Ireland’s 24-9 victory over France at the Millennium Stadium after just 25 minutes last weekend, then immediately set about working to be ready for Sunday.
While Ireland have named their premier playmaker in their starting line-up, the 30-year-old will still most likely use all the available time to ensure his groin issue has healed completely.
Ireland fly-half Johnny Sexton passed fit to start in World Cup quarter final against Argentina – more details on #SSNHQ
— Sky Sports News HQ (@SkySportsNewsHQ) October 16, 2015
When asked if selecting Sexton carried any risk, Ireland head coach Schmidt insisted: “Not really. If he’s fit he’s fit. We don’t tend to take too many risks with injured players. But there are always risks in everything you do.
“We’ve allowed Johnny to build his way back into the week. He had a fairly light start to the week but trained fully this morning.
“And we feel he’s ready to go. It’s been a very light training week, we’ve got a few guys carrying bumps and bruises. But we’ve got 48 hours more to freshen.”
Argentina head coach Daniel Hourcade claims his side won’t be directly targeting Sexton, under the mistaken belief the No. 10 won’t be fully fit and therefore not as influential.
“They are a team that we respect a lot but they have weak points and we’re going to attack them through those,” said Hourcade.
“If he plays it’s because he’s okay. And we prepare the game thinking it’s the best team of Ireland, and that’s with Sexton 100 per cent.
“We consider Sexton is 100 per cent fit, so it would be perhaps a mistake to go and try to find him. He can surprise you, because he’s a good player. We cannot just focus on him, thinking that he’s not fit.”
