O’Gara warns Sexton a doubt for Six Nations

Joe Schmidt will find out tomorrow if out-half Johnny Sexton will be available for the remaining two Six Nations matches.

The former Leinster No 10 picked up a thumb injury during Ireland’s loss to England last weekend. He had been scheduled to play for Racing Metro against Castres on Saturday but his kicking coach in Paris, Ronan O’Gara, has already ruled him out of action.

“I don’t think he’ll play on Saturday. I think his injury is serious enough so that’s what’s happening now in the next few days, establishing the extent of it,” O’Gara said at an Irish Examiner sports breakfast yesterday.

“I collected him from the airport in France on Monday evening and his thumb was in a splint with extended protection. It’s very badly damaged in terms of bruises. That’s where we are. We just need to monitor it twice daily and see where he is. There will be a lot of scans done because of the person involved and rightly so because he’s so crucial. With these things it depends on what specialists are available to read them.”

Sexton is currently undergoing medical tests with IRFU and Racing Metro doctors to asses the damage and plot a recovery process.

Asked whether his participation in the remainder of the Six Nations was in doubt, he added: “I would think it is because Racing are his boss. There will be complications there I think.”

However, O’Gara also added that the Ireland team will not grind to a halt without Sexton.

“The show goes on no matter who you are. You saw it for 18 months with Paul O’Connell. The game moves very quickly. There’s no Mr Indispensable.

“Obviously he’s a key classy player for Ireland. It’s a little bit unknown for me. Every possible scan is being looked into and will be done this week between the Irish medical system and Racing’s. It’s a small bit up in the air and that’s not me batting off the question. I think by Friday we’ll have a definite outlook of what the prognosis is.”

O’Gara accepted that 20 games with Racing Metro at this stage of the season was never part of the plan.

“He’s in a hard place. For all this living in Paris and playing with Metro, I know he decided to sign for them and got big money, but it’s tough for him.

“The problem is the second, third and fourth choice out-halves in Racing Metro just haven’t featured. They’ve all been injured.

“His workload is grossly unfair but in fairness to the coaches, if Johnny doesn’t play you’re diminishing your chances of winning by 50%. He’s so important to Racing Metro, he’s so important to Ireland a balance needs to be found. He’s been overplayed but it’s been a bizarre set of circumstances for that to happen.”