THE LAST TIME Johnny Sexton lined out against France, things didn’t go to plan.

It was October 2020 at an empty Stade de France and Ireland were trailing the home side by eight points with 11 minutes to play in their pandemic-postponed Six Nations tie when head coach Andy Farrell decided to pull his captain from the action and send in Ross Byrne.

Sexton’s visible frustration as he made way dominated the post-match reaction, and the out-half has had a long wait to get another crack at France. The two sides have met twice since, with Ireland losing on both occasions – Sexton missing the 2021 15-13 loss in Dublin (head) before also sitting out last year’s 30-24 defeat in Paris (hamstring).

This weekend, that long wait is set to end. Speaking to the media in Abbotstown earlier today, the 37-year-old said he was relieved to come through another day’s training without any setbacks after suffering a dead leg in Cardiff last weekend and passing the concussion protocols. 

“The last two Wednesdays before France over the past two fixtures I’ve ended up pulling out, so to get through today is great,” Sexton said. “Hopefully I can get through (the rest of the week) without any hiccups.”

Sexton’s availability is a significant boost for an Ireland team who have yet to beat France across three attempts under Farrell. 

It’s also a clash that pits the top two ranked sides in the world against each other. Earlier this morning, France out-half Romain Ntamack labeled Ireland “heavy favourites” – a comment put to Sexton a few hours later. 

He brushed that suggestion off, but didn’t shy away from the fact that Saturday’s fixture is one this Ireland squad have been looking forward to for some time.

“It feels like a huge game. It is a huge game. There’s no point in saying anything otherwise.

You can’t just come in here and say ‘it’s just another game’ because it’s not, it’s one we’ve waited a long time for and I’ve read that they want this test; to come to the Aviva and try and overturn us. It’s a huge game.”

It’s also a game that tends to stir up something in Sexton given the two seasons he spent with Racing and his colourful history with French rugby since.

“They are always big weeks, often for me something comes out of the woodwork in French week and I’m expecting something later in the week,” Sexton continued.

“It’s always a big game; I grew up in an era of watching Ireland lose to France, heavily, to then sort of see the first teams beating them and then to be part of teams beating them has been amazing.

“But you still have those memories from (being) a young kid of France coming and demolishing Ireland. You probably naturally feel the underdog at my age, whereas the younger lads probably don’t. It’s a strange mixture in the squad.”

Sexton training in Abbotstown today. Laszlo Geczo / INPHO Laszlo Geczo / INPHO / INPHO

Ireland made a blistering start to their Six Nations campaign by storming to a bonus-point win in Cardiff last Saturday. France, meanwhile, looked laboured as they avoided a shock defeat to a spirited Italian side in Rome.

It was an unconvincing display from Fabien Galthié’s side but the message from Ireland camp all week has been that they expect a very different French side to turn up in Dublin on Saturday afternoon.

“The usual, what we’ve seen over the past few year because they’ve had outstanding success with 14 games on the bounce unbeaten. Shaun Edwards isn’t the head coach but a lot of what he did with Wales, you can see it all over the team, they kick long, real aggressive defence with some outstanding individuals littered through the team.

“They are the full package really, that’s the message and we’re going to have to be at our very best to get a win.”

It’s also another valuable opportunity for Ireland to test themselves against a more powerful pack, a challenge they now feel they have the tools to dismantle.

“They’re definitely bigger, we need to play quick and have clean ruck ball,” Sexton added.

“That’s something we haven’t had against them over the last couple of games. The amount of people they threw into the breakdown last year at Stade de France, sometimes illegally and sometimes legally. They’ve got some outstanding poachers, they push the boundaries definitely; they are the full package and don’t have any weaknesses.

“We’ve got to play to the best of our ability and see where that gets us.”

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