Former Ireland captain Brian O'Driscoll believes that Johnny Sexton is more than capable of hitting the ground running when Ireland plays Romania this coming Saturday.
Sexton has not played competitive rugby for 25 weeks due to an injury picked up during Ireland's Grand Slam win over England in March and a ban he received during Leinster's defeat to La Rochelle in the Champions Cup in May.
Sexton missed Ireland's three warm-up games against Italy, England, and Samoa last month, and there are fears that Sexton would not be battle-ready for Ireland's opener against Romania this weekend.
However, O'Driscoll believes that if there is anyone who can come in and do a job straight away for Ireland, it's his old Leinster colleague Sexton.
“I imagine he'll start the first game, maybe sit on the bench against Tonga and then come on for 20 minutes if needed. And then we've got to start him in the biggest games in the pool, against South Africa and against Scotland," the Ireland legend said at an event for Guinness this week.
“So it is a really big ask of Johnny at 38 years of age, but he's put himself in the mix to finally achieve something on this stage, and if anyone is capable of doing it at his age, knowing his professionalism, well, it is Sexton."
O'Driscoll believes that Ireland's reliance on their captain Sexton will leave a lot of fans watching at home nervous, and the former Ireland player also believes that this year won't be any different.
“We'll all be holding our breath with every impact, with every collision that he's involved in,” he explained further. "But that hasn't been any different for the last three or four years anyway.”
Johnny Sexton chatting in French. pic.twitter.com/vACMo0pG9i
— Murray Kinsella (@Murray_Kinsella) September 2, 2023
Before the World Cup, it was confirmed that Sexton, at 38, would retire from all forms of rugby. This will mean that Ireland will have a huge hole at half-back after the tournament. Sexton's loss will obviously be felt, but the likes of Ross Byrne and Jack Crowley, who are Sexton's challengers for the 10 jersey at this moment, are expected to step up and fill Sexton's shoes when he does walk away.
O'Driscoll believes that Munster star Crowley has the ability to beat Leinster's Ross Byrne, when Sexton does call time on his illustrious Ireland career.
“I would need to know the comfort of what he has been like at training,” said O’Driscoll. “I want to have seen the clarity of the game plan, his decision-making, and what he has offered in comparison to Ross. I would probably be making my decision off the back of that rather than what I have seen in a warm-up game.
“Jack Crowley probably has a little bit more capacity and a greater ceiling, but Ross has come in and done a great job for Ireland in clutch moments and kicking goals. He has a very secure set of hands. We’ll have to wait and see in that all-important first 23-man squad as to what the pecking order is.”
Ireland's game against Romania starts at 2:30pm on Saturday.
Ireland's team will also be announced on Thursday.
