Cotton wool.

Following on from last weekend’s heroics against France, Ireland outhalf Johnny Sexton looks set to be wrapped in cotton wool for the visit of Italy to Dublin this weekend.

Sexton played over 82 minutes on Saturday and was seen down on the ground cramping just before he stepped up and clinched the game with a monstrous drop goal.

Joey Carbery looks set to step up in his place, and the Leinster star says he’s raring to go, despite having very little game time under his belt since injuring his arm against Fiji in November.

“Well if Joe picks me. You have to trust his faith, because he’s the man who knows. I feel like I’d be ready to.” Carbery said today.

“We train at such a high intensity, it does prepare you really well for games. Obviously game time, you can’t really create, but our training is probably as close as you can get to it. That does prepare you for games, but game-time is crucial as well.”

 “(Schmidt) just said to go out and do your thing.

He has confidence in me, if I am thrown in there, to keep control. That’s given me a lot of confidence as well, knowing he’s got my back.”

Schmidt names his Ireland team on Thursday afternoon.