France insist Sexton will not be a target on return

French admit focusing on fly-half does not work Best back to lead Ireland in ‘must-win’ game

France have denied they will target Ireland’s returning fly-half Johnny Sexton in this afternoon’s game at the Aviva Stadium, saying they have tried that in the past and it did not work.

Ireland, however, do not appear to be taking France’s protestations at face value. Defence coach Andy Farrell said he was expecting a stern physical examination from Guy Novès’s much-improved team but backed Sexton to bring his usual “energy” to his defensive as well as his offensive work.

Sexton – who returns today after five weeks out with a calf strain – has been on the wrong end of some very physical treatment from the French in the past. The 31-year-old was knocked unconscious in Ireland’s 22-20 win in Paris in 2014, when Ireland claimed their first Six Nations title under Joe Schmidt. The Dubliner then suffered a nasty black eye when the Irish prevailed 18-11 in Dublin a year later.

Sexton was also openly targeted at the 2015 Rugby World Cup clash in Cardiff when Ireland came out on top for a third time, but at huge cost, with Sexton, Paul O’Connell and Peter O’Mahony all forced to leave the field injured. Sean O’Brien was also cited for a swinging arm on Pascal Papé – retribution for Papé’s knee on Jamie Heaslip earlier in the year – in the same game.

So there has been plenty of niggle. Yannick Bru, France’s forwards coach, claimed, though, that the French had learned their lesson.

“Each time we’ve wanted to target him [Sexton] we’ve made big mistakes,” he said. “So we didn’t really work or speak about Sexton.

“We have focused more on [Jamie] Heaslip, [CJ] Stander and [Sean] O’Brien. We know the big force of that Ireland team [the back row].”

Farrell said that Sexton was chomping at the bit to get going and would not shirk from the physical confrontation. “He’s got plenty of energy, but if you look at Paddy’s [Jackson] performance [in Italy] so did he,” he said. “It’s what Johnny brings week to week and he’s certainly excited about getting amongst it.”

The Ireland captain, Rory Best – who returns to the starting line-up, having missed the 63-10 victory in Rome two weekends ago with a stomach bug – conceded it was now effectively “knockout rugby” in terms of both teams’ championship hopes.

“We have to be able to go out and play, attack them with and without the ball,” Best said. “We’re aware of the ramifications that there are, having lost the first game. If you’re going to have any chance of producing something in this tournament we know we have to win the next four games [after Scotland].”