Johnny Sexton fit for Ireland's World Cup quarter-final against Argentina
Saturday 17 October 2015 14:16, UK
Johnny Sexton has been passed fit for Ireland's World Cup quarter-final against Argentina in Cardiff on Sunday.
The fly-half has been struggling with a groin problem that forced him out of Ireland's victory over France after just 25 minutes at the Millennium Stadium last weekend.
But the Irish medics are satisfied he is fit enough to take on the Pumas at the same venue.
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Ireland must face Argentina without pack leaders Paul O'Connell, Peter O'Mahony and the suspended Sean O'Brien, and have chosen to address the problem by drafting Leinster's Jordi Murphy into their back row.
That is something for a surprise - Iain Henderson had been widely expected to be moved from the second row to No 6, with Donnacha Ryan drafted in to partner Devin Toner.
But coach Joe Schmidt has chosen to keep Henderson, who replaced the injured O'Connell against the French, alongside Toner to keep changes to a minimum.
Ulster's Chris Henry starts at openside flanker in place of O'Brien, who must sit out the quarter-final because of a one-match ban for punching Pascal Pape.
"When asked if selecting Sexton carried any risk, Schmidt said: "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 in the Millennium Stadium 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 and hopefully be ready to go on Sunday."
And Schmidt backed Murphy to cope with the pressure of a World Cup quarter-final.
"Jordi has started Six Nations matches for us, he's played six before, and he can also operate across the back row," said Schmidt.
"And we felt this was probably his best position having rehearsed running in that position more often than anyone else.
"We did think about putting Iain Henderson there and putting Donnacha Ryan in at lock, and that may still happen during the game.
"But we felt Iain Henderson added a little more ballast to our tight five because the back five of the scrum had lost a lot of experience."
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Jonathan Sexton, 9 Conor Murray; 1 Cian Healy, 2 Rory Best, 3 Mike Ross, 4 Devin Toner, 5 Iain Henderson, 6 Jordi Murphy, 7 Chris Henry, 8 Jamie Heaslip (captain)
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Nathan White, 19 Donnacha Ryan, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Luke Fitzgerald
