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Watch: Best on why no one in Ireland camp is worried about Sexton
By Nicholas McGee
Ireland captain Rory Best has no fears over the fitness of Johnny Sexton ahead of the crucial Six Nations encounter with Wales.
Fly-half Sexton missed some of the captain's run on Friday to receive treatment on his lower back.
But hooker Best revealed Sexton did take part in the session later on, easing any concerns he could join Tadhg Furlong, Iain Henderson and Robbie Henshaw on the sidelines.
"He was grand, it's just that he's just getting a bit older, so he needed a bit longer to warm up, but he came into the tail-end of the session," Best said.
"He let the subs run at the start and then the starters finished off. No concerns."
In the lead up to the contest, Wales head coach Warren Gatland has rejected talk of Ireland being the best team in the competition, but Best had no issue with his comments.
"Look I think he's entitled to his opinion. He's coming off the back of having just played England and their record over the last two years speaks for itself," he added.
"But we'll not really pay any heed to that. We'll hope that through our performances tomorrow that we can change his mind.
"And if it doesn't change his mind tomorrow but we win, we'll not really be that bothered."
Best also dismissed suggestions Wales are a bogey team for Ireland, despite having not beaten them in the Six Nations since 2014.
"I don't think so. There's been some really tough games," Best said. "The game last year was a one-score game right up until the end.
"The maul try that got penalised, it doesn't matter now, but when you're playing the top teams it's down to fine margins.
"Last year we lost a couple of those through our own doing and also good play by Wales.
"We've got to win as many of those battles as we can tomorrow."
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Latest Comments
Not so many when you compare it to the squad of 50 plus players used by SA. Four main problems with the team and Schmidt shows he is a good technician but poor international coach by not selecting the best players and rotating and developing key positions.
First, the scrum is woeful if Bell and Thor don’t play. AAA and Nongoor in particular are poor. Talea may be good but is not good enough. Schmidt should select Sio, Ainsley and Latu as the bench front row. All playing well in Europe. He should also be doing better with Pone and perhaps getting him over to France to work on his scrummaging. Pone is our best running prop but poor coaching has killed him. Needs better coaching OS provided eg Skelton and Meafou. Secondly, 9 and 10 combo. McDermott is a confidence player and is terrible on a bad day. He takes several steps before passing which kills the speed of ball and results in turnovers. Better off with Kerr Barlow who is playing well with La Rochelle and making McDermott work on his skills. Edmed probably does need a run too. Thirdly, centre and fullback. Perese is our best defender at centre and should be in the squad. The outside back defence is poor without Joe and needs to be shored up. Wright is also a confidence player and has poor defence. When he is off like he was last week better to replace him with someone like Reece Hodge who has a great boot and good D. Fourthly, lack of ball runners who break tackles outside of Bobby V and Skelton. Wilson is not up to international standard and dosent break tackles nor does McReight. Replace him with Gleeson and Leota on the bench if fit. Would also be better playing Pone than Nongoor as Pone at least has a good running game. Latu also makes ground. Amatesero is also a better player than Williams. Frost has been the standout fine. Finally, player rotation. Schmidt is grinding key players like Bell and Bobby V into dust. He needs to give them breaks by utilising OS players more and developing youngsters. The loss of Meafou to France and the guy who captained Scotland exemplifies the poor coaching and development in Aus.
Go to commentsIt doesn't baffle me. We have seen this before from kiwi coaches in Australia. Exactly as I predicted Schmidt is chopping and changing the team every week and playing players out of position and there doesn't appear to be any discernable game plan
It appears the Wallaby players have lost faith in Schmidt already. Again, exactly as I predicted.
Once Aussies can see a kiwi is a fraud, all faith just goes out the door. It happened with Deans, it happened with Rennie and it's now happened with Schmidt. Players don't like being screwed around and they know when the selections and tactics suck.
We are going to get done like a dinner during the Lions tour, just like it was when Deans was coach and Schmidt will get sacked with his forty pieces of silver. He's a mercenary.
And congratulations on an honest assessment. Some in the Australian media have become sickeningly obsequious.
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