French planning to ‘hunt down’ Johnny Sexton

He may have packed his bags and left Paris for good, but Jonathan Sexton continues to hold a fascination for the French, some of whom have made no secret of their intent to target the Ireland number ten ahead of Sunday’s Pool D meeting between the sides in Cardiff.

Six players were trundled out to meet the press at the French team’s luxurious Vale of Glamorgan team hotel yesterday. Almost all were quizzed about Ireland’s playmaker with the replies ranging from polite and respectful to Eddy Ben Arous’s which was, well, let’s just say less than subtle.

“I know that he is slow in getting rid of the ball. I am going to try and put the maximum pressure on him,” said the prop who played with Sexton at Racing. “I am going to hunt him down as often as possible. We are going to go after him 200% because he is the strong man of this team.”