Count me in.

Johnny Sexton has made it very clear. He wants to tour Australia with Ireland this summer and that’s that. Any talk of resting him needs to be put to bed now.

The Leinster playmaker says they are well looked after under the IRFU “umbrella”, and providing he’s fit and ready to go, he expects to travel to down under this summer with Ireland set to take on Australia in a three-Test series.

Speaking on The Left Wing podcast, Sexton says “as a player you want to play” as much as possible.

“As a player you want to play, I want to play for Ireland as many times as I can and the same with Leinster,” Sexton said.

“We are very well looked after in Ireland and one of the biggest reasons in coming back to Ireland was to be under that IRFU umbrella. I want to play as many games and if I’m fit, I definitely want to go.”

Sexton also eels this summer’s tour is hugely important in terms of building momentum for next year’s Rugby World Cup in Japan.

“When you are thinking about the World Cup in a few years time you want to tick as many boxes as you can to give yourself confidence going into it,” he said.

“We can beat teams at home but you don’t get a home game in a World Cup and we have to know that we can beat these big teams away from home too.

“Leading into a World Cup it is important to tick boxes along the way and beating Australia away from home would definitely be one of those so I would be mad keen on going.”