Sexton savours Six Nations win

STAR flyhalf Johnny Sexton savoured the strange feeling of Ireland winning their third Six Nations title under Joe Schmidt on Saturday with a game to spare.

The Irish were assured of it when defending champions England lost 22-16 to France in Paris.

The Irish -- who can win only their third Five/Six Nations grand slam if they beat England next Saturday -had earlier secured a bonus-point win over Scotland in Dublin, beating them 28-8.

The Irish are on 19 points and England and France on 10 going into the final round of matches.

Sexton said it was a strange feeling to have already sealed the title with the England game still to come.

Sexton, who converted all four of Ireland’s tries, said it was a huge achievement given serious injuries ruled out several key players during the campaign such as flanker Josh van der Flier and centres Robbie Henshaw and Chris Farrell.

“Credit to management to have prepared us so well for each match with so many players missing.

“Beforehand, if someone told me you are going to win the championship without Van der Flier, [Jamie] Heaslip and Henshaw, I wouldn’t have believed them,” he said.

“It is great we have built a bit of depth but we know the biggest challenge [England] lies ahead.”

Schmidt for his part said the title should be enjoyed by all those who had missed out either through injury or just not getting game time.

“From a wider perspective, the players out there have won this title for the injured players and those who worked really hard but didn’t get to play,” Schmidt said.

The Irish began their campaign with a nerve-wracking last-second win over France and have secured three successive bonus point wins -for scoring at least four tries -- since, all at Lansdowne Road, over Italy, Wales and then the Scots.