Johnny Sexton’s ice and fire may be key in Six Nations game of thrones

I predicted last week that the opening six hours of rugby action that would launch this season’s Six Nations championship would prove very revealing and that’s exactly what transpired, writes Donal Lenihan.

Opinions in the build-up revolved around what happened in the previous autumn international window when, as Scotland in particular found out, the rugby on offer and the approach of the opposition is somewhat different to what you will encounter in tournament rugby.

So Wales, buoyed by a strong Scarlets influence, proved far better than expected given the proven pedigree of British and Irish Lions stalwarts they were missing.