'Leader' Sexton will handle any challenge thrown his way, insists Ringrose 

BACKING JOHNNY: Garry Ringrose National Dairy Council Ambassador at Teagasc Moorepark Open Day, Fermoy.

Garry Ringrose has no doubt that Johnny Sexton will be ready to hit the ground running at the upcoming World Cup regardless of the outcome to his EPCR disciplinary hearing next week.

Sexton has been called to account for “misconduct complaints” arising from his behaviour in the wake of Leinster’s Champions Cup final defeat to La Rochelle at the Aviva Stadium in May when the province lost out by a single point.

Though injured and sidelined since Ireland’s last Six Nations game against England last March, Sexton was on the pitch at the game’s end in Dublin and directed comments at match referee Jaco Peyper.

The fear is that if there is a suspension to arise from the July 13th hearing it could impinge on his availability for the Ireland squad’s pre-tournament games, against Italy and England at home, and against Samoa in Bayonne.

Sexton will turn 38 just two days before that disciplinary session, and will be approaching 17 weeks without any game time by then, but Ringrose is convinced that his club and country teammate will be at full tilt whenever needed.

“He has an unbelievable gift that, whatever challenge seems to be thrown at him, he deals with it head on and is resilient and gets through it. 

"So him coming back, whether he gets to play all the pre-season games, or if he or some guys pick up a niggle and have to wait until the World Cup to play, him and a few others are brilliant at being able to tackle any challenge that comes their way.

“He's an unbelievable leader for us, he has so much experience when it comes to the World Cup, so everyone is still tapping into him as much as they can and he has been brilliant at helping other guys around him, whatever might happen outside of that. So whatever happens, happens but I know he'll be able to take it in his stride.” 

Andy Farrell’s 45-man preliminary squad got their World Cup preparations underway as early as June 19th but the lead-in time is being filtered with in-built breaks so they find themselves on a week off right now after an initial fortnight in camp.

Ringrose used his limited time off after the end of the club season to get married and pitch up for at least one other wedding and there is an understanding that it is far too early to be obsessing 24/7 about the upcoming campaign in France.

Lending his name as an ambassador to the National Dairy Council is part of that and he was in Fermoy yesterday along with an estimated 10,000 of Ireland’s 17,500 dairy farmers to attend a major industry event hosted by Teagasc.

Other Ireland players will be using the downtime to lend their names and time to various commercial and charitable ventures this week and Ringrose is of the belief that these distractions can work for them on the pitch as much as off it.

“It feels wrong to use the word distractions because that can appear negative. It is more opportunities away from the pitch. It’s not even that they don’t have a negative effect, I think they have a positive effect if you do it right.

“It’s not all-consuming, a bit of planning does go into them, but it is an opportunity to step away. I am meeting some kids later today which I always get a buzz out. It never gets old because I was that little kid back in the day.” 

Every team is seeking out the one-percenters that could make all the difference at the World Cup. Wales’ players were doused in water and subjected to recordings of crying babies. Ireland did a gym session backed by 'funky' tunes by a band called Riff Shop Music.

Each to their own and all that. Wales are looking to put a torrid Six Nations behind them, Ireland are looking to push on from a Grand Slam. One is clearly in a better place but finding improvements will still be crucial to Farrell’s ambitions.

“It was a dream come true for everyone involved to win a Grand Slam,” Ringrose explained, “but there was loads of moments within the games that you're always striving to improve on and get better.

“Everyone's acutely aware that all other teams will improve now and get better so the challenge everyone is licking their lips about is to do the game thing. We have to try to take our game to another level knowing other teams are going to exactly the same.”