On the mend.

Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has confirmed that star outhalf Johnny Sexton is on the mend – with his hand injury not as bad as originally reported this week.

Sexton damaged his hand while training with Ireland recently, with reports suggesting he could face up to six weeks out. But Schmidt says he expects to have Sexton “passing the ball around by the end of next week”, confirming it’s nothing more than a sprain.

The current World Player of the Year was wearing protective strapping at the Sportsground this morning but seemed pretty active in the session, with plenty of work to be done off the ball.

Ireland held an open session at the Sportsground today.

“He sprained it last week,” Schmidt explained pitchside at the Sportsground.

“It doesn’t actually stop him running so he’s still having to pay the price everyone else is paying. We would expect that he will be passing the ball around by the end of next week and he’ll be fully available, well before we play Italy anyway. It’s all good news on Johnny.
“It was just one of those awkward injuries, not even a contact session but when big men are moving at high speeds sometimes those small collisions can cause a little bit of discomfort, nothing major.”