Johnny Sexton enjoying the 'freedom' of Ireland's system under Andy Farrell

Ireland's Johnny Sexton (right) celebrates after Garry Ringrose scores a try during the Six Nations match against Wales. Picture: PA

This may be Johnny Sexton’s 13th Guinness Six Nations campaign and this Saturday at Stade de France should bring his 103rd Ireland cap but do not under any circumstance expect the veteran’s competitive fire to be burning out.

Winning remains everything to the 36-year-old, which is why the Ireland skipper is enjoying his rugby so much right now, leading an improving team going from strength to strength under head coach Andy Farrell. Last Saturday’s Six Nations opening-day 29-7 win over Wales was a ninth Test victory in a row in a run stretching back almost 12 months to the end of last February and it is crystal clear that Sexton is in a much better space right now, in the build-up to the weekend showdown with France in Paris, than he was after back-to-back defeats kicked off Ireland’s 2021 championship campaign.

When the fly-half was asked whether this current Ireland squad was the most enjoyable he had played in across his storied and medal-laden career, the answer was as you may have expected.

“It's only enjoyable because we're winning,” Sexton said. “Any team that I've ever been involved with and we've won, I've loved.

“I've loved playing for Ireland in any system that we've played in, but if you look back at the best teams you played in and the most enjoyable environments are when you win. That's because you get the moments after games as well as some as the moments in games.

“Like, some of the moments that we've had in games recently, they'll live with you forever. Even Garry (Ringrose's) try (against Wales last Saturday), what an amazing try. The stadium just goes crazy, we love it as a team, it's a bonus-point try at home in the Aviva Stadium.

"You love it when you win, and that's the most important thing when it comes to it.”

The great days in Paris are more difficult to achieve, and none more so than this Saturday when Ireland go toe-to-toe with Fabien Galthie’s side which has rediscovered the flair and creativity which French sides had misplaced for much of the last dozen years. It will be the seventh visit in Sexton’s Six Nations career and there have been just two wins in that time but both were pretty special. The 22-20 victory in 2014 delivered his and Joe Schmidt’s first championship title while the 15-13 success four years later laid the foundations for the 2018 Grand Slam and was sealed by that remarkable Sexton drop goal at the end of an epic 41-phase drive instigated by him from under the Irish posts.

Pick a favourite from that pair, Sexton was asked.

“I think the title. Anytime you win a trophy, it is incredibly special. So to get a trophy at the end of that day... even though my memory of it was a bit eh... you know Bastareaud got to me a couple of times that day!

“I just think anytime you get the trophy you will remember that game more fondly than any of the others, so I’d say 2014 would be up there definitely.”

The hope, of course, is that there will be another moment to cherish from this weekend’s Parisian adventure and while Ireland are playing their best rugby in years, Sexton said he has developed his own game in step with the improvements being made by the collective.

“The coaches have challenged me to get better in certain areas. And I enjoy the system that we’re playing in.

“I enjoy having that freedom to stay in the system and make decisions in it. Play what you see and the freedom to go and do that. Things have worked for us. But I was always harping on about it in the last Six Nations.

“We weren’t too far away. We weren’t too far away in the first couple of games. We weren’t too far away even in the campaign before that.

“Things just click with time. And with getting certain individuals back in the team who make a big difference. And it all comes together. I think it’s just a bit of time and guys getting comfortable because it’s very different to how the provinces play. It takes a bit of getting used to.

“But I’m loving it, all the boys are loving it too and now it’s about figuring out different ways we can try to improve it.”