Sexton has outside chance of facing Italy

Johnny Sexton has an outside chance of being available for the clash with Italy on Saturday week, Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt has revealed.

Sexton will miss Saturday's RBS Six Nations opener against Scotland as he continues his recovery from a calf injury with Paddy Jackson taking his place alongside Conor Murray in the half-back line.

The Leinster out-half has endured a frustrating time with injuries in recent seasons but Schmidt is hopeful that he can still play a big role in Ireland's Six Nations campaign.

“Jonathan Sexton has an outside chance for Italy. There’s no greater frustration than for Johnny, he was incredibly motivated for this championship," Schmidt said.

“He was frustrated to get the injury in Castres and that has hungover for us. He has only played 82 minutes in the last eight test matches and it is frustrating.

“In the three championships I have played, he has dominated the number ten position and we hope he can still do that.

“There aren’t many players who don’t go through injury and a little bit of bad luck. The Castres injury was a minor one and then it was an extension of that."

Ian Keatley will provide the cover on the bench with Ian Madigan missing out on the matchday squad.

Madigan was not considered for selection after he was unable to train with the Ireland squad last week due to his club commitments with Bordeaux and his omission has brought the issue of foreign-based players to the fore.

While he has not ruled out the possibility of including Madigan later in the competition, Schmidt admits he will put home-grown players first.

“We are incredibly keen to support the provinces," Schmidt explained at Thursday's press conference.

"If we tell the players that we are picking from overseas, players may be more likely to go overseas. They have player management here and know they will be close to the queue in terms of selection.

"Guys like Ian and Marty Moore haven’t gone away. We know we can whistle Ian in, but he would have to go back after two games. You don’t get continuity and that is the frustration for us.

"Marty was ahead of Tadhg Furlong at Leinster before he left, John Ryan and Finlay Bealham have come through and taken their opportunity.

"This time last year nobody was talking about Joey Carbery and that wouldn’t have happened had Ian Madigan still been there.

“You want every Irish player on the island and available, but it is fluctuating regarding the players who are overseas in terms of when they can be available to us and that is frustrating.”

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