Nobody can make you feel inferior without consent

EVERYONE seems to be worried about Jonathan Sexton’s confidence these days, as if it is something as fragile as Ronan O’Gara’s latest Man of the Match crystal glass.

Last Sunday morning my old Sunday Tribune colleague Neil Francis believed Declan Kidney’s choice of out-half for the Scotland game would see “a year and a half of player development and confidence go down the pan”.

Even someone as nuanced in the mental game as Kidney, he seemed to be overly-concerned by Sexton’s current belief levels by bringing him on when Ireland most needed O’Gara left on.