RONAN O’GARA HAS backed Jonny Sexton to lead Ireland to a win against Australia in the November Test that kicks off shortly.

Speaking on RTÉ shortly before the kick off, the Racing Metro coach said:

“Jonny’s quality. Just to put the viewers minds at ease, Jonny’s in a great place. Yes, he’s played a lot of rugby but in those games he’s kicked the ball a lot. Many of the provincial training sessions would be harder than the games. A lot of it is a territorial battle, the idea of French flair is gone, it’s a myth.

“He’s driven, he’s competitive and he wants to win. he has Luke Marshall outside him, you can see in the warm-up there’s been a small bit of indecision between himself, Jonny and Brian [O'Driscoll].”

O’Gara also said he rates Australia number 10 Quade Cooper:

“The key point is that with half-backs so much is underplayed with confidence. We thrive on confidence, every half back does. Quade Cooper you can see, McKenzie believes in him so Cooper is thriving. I think when (A) the players believe in him and (B) the management believe in him, this fellow will grow a foot taller.

“He’s better than a confidence player.”

ROG’s prediction?

“I think we could have a scoreline of more than 50 points here tonight. I think Ireland are going to win by eight.”

LIVE: Ireland v Australia, November Tests