Even if he is not fully fit, Sexton may start
LES KISS has claimed Johnny Sexton is on the mend and that Ireland management will give him until the very last minute to prove his fitness ahead of Sunday’s Millennium Stadium World Cup quarter-final against Argentina. Sexton lasted just 25 minutes of the pool-clinching win over France three days ago, departing with a ‘slight’ adductor strain and, while Joe Schmidt has traditionally leaned towards players training fully in midweek, Kiss suggested they are poised to make a rare exception in the case of their outhalf after last weekend’s triple blow of losing skipper Paul O’Connell, Peter O’Mahony and Jared Payne for the rest of the tournament. Mike McCarthy was yesterday called up to replace O’Connell, who will have surgery later this week on his significant hamstring injury. His call-up follows Monday’s emergency inclusion of Rhys Ruddock for O’Mahony, but Ireland were continuing to hold fire on bringing in a replacement for Payne due to the Seán O’Brien citing hearing in London. ‘There has been some improvement,’ said Kiss about Sexton’s groin problem. ‘Hopefully we’ll see a little bit more on Wednesday and that will give us a clearer picture. ‘At this stage it’s one of those things where you’re hoping you see initial improvement and then more improvement the next day. That is where we are sitting at the moment — we’ll have to wait and see. ‘Each day will give us some more information,’ he continued, admitting Sexton could start without being 100 per cent fit. ‘It’s a good question because that is the one we’ll face. Where that medical information comes back to us, what information Johnny gives us, that will give us the clues to it. ‘Knock-out maybe changes the shape of your thinking, but we have to be pragmatic about what works. It will probably come down to the last minute when we make that decision,’ added Kiss. If Sexton doesn’t make it, Kiss has no fears about Ian Madigan getting just his sixth Test start at 10. ‘I wouldn’t be fearful. We have got a lot of faith in what Ian can do for us and he proved that. ‘He trusted his instincts in that game against France and caused them a whole heap of trouble. He slotted in seamlessly, really. He’s armed, he’s ready and if it has to be the case he will step forward. ‘In every part of the game, Ian is bolted on, he knows where he is. It’s nice to know that but, as I said, we will take each moment, each medical report as it comes.’