French out-half feels for Sexton

Jonathan Sexton received support from an unusual quarter yesterday, as France out-half Francois Trinh-Duc admitted he can empathise with the Leinster man’s struggles to make the Ireland number 10 jersey his own.

Sexton is the man charged with piloting Ireland to a rare success in Paris, his third successive start in a green jersey that Declan Kidney has swapped between him and Ronan O’Gara in recent years.

Trinh-Duc will be his opposite number at the Stade de France tomorrow but he has endured selection struggles of his own, sitting on the bench while scrum-half Morgan Parra was reinvented as an out-half at the World Cup by former France coach Marc Lievremont.