AGE IS NOT A FACTOR WITH OUR SKIPPER

JOHNNY SEXTON’S age isn’t an issue for Andy Farrell because he demands as much of his skipper as anyone else.

Sexton (above) began what is expected to be his last Six Nations in good form, playing 65 minutes in Cardiff before he came off with a dead leg.

He also passed a precautionary head injury assessment and will start against France on

Saturday – although it is not yet known if his regular half-back partner Jamison

Gibson-park (inset) will make it after crying off the Wales game with a hamstring problem on Saturday morning.

Sexton confessed after the 34-10 win at the Principality Stadium that he was as nervous as he had ever been before a game.

It was only the 37-year-old’s second outing since he was injured in the warm-up before the Australia clash in November. Given his age, fears over Sexton’s fitness and ability to play a number of matches in quick succession will remain.

However, Farrell said: “There’s no doubts about his age in our mind. I spoke to him over the last two weeks constantly about, ‘There’s no excuse, you need to be at your best’.

“He cares about his rugby so much and cares about doing such a good job for his team.

“He was saying he was nervous about the game but we were trying to get him to the point where he’s just going to be at his best even though he hadn’t played for so long.

“He handles that, he runs a team as in he makes the team feel right and then goes out and performs at the same time.

“I thought his goalkicking was excellent as well, it’s a testament to his character.”