Ireland captain Johnny Sexton has said the muscle strain he sustained in Leinster’s PRO 14 derby against Munster on Friday is “nothing major” and he intends to be fit for his side’s opening Six Nations game against Wales on Feb. 7.
Coach Andy Farrell said he is hopeful that Jacob Stockdale will be able to join up with the squad after the first two fixtures as he recovers from a knee injury.
“Anytime that you get a little niggle like that it’s very frustrating because I did a lot of work over the last four or five weeks, trained hard to make sure that didn’t happen, and it did [happen] at the time that I didn’t want it to happen, which is somewhat typical,” Sexton said at the Six Nations launch on Wednesday.
“But listen, it’s not major. Hopefully I’ll be back training by the end of the week, and hopefully I’ll be fit for the Wales game.
“It can be frustrating when you pick up these things, but it is a tough game to get through now. I was in a good place before the Munster game and picked up a niggle, so I won’t let it get me down too much. Just get back on the horse, get back training hard this week and hopefully be firing next week.”
Sexton, 35, avoided commenting on his future with this injury the latest in a long strain of setbacks he has faced in recent seasons.
“For me it’s about to take it one campaign at a time. I’m focused. Stay on another year, or another two, I don’t know,” he added.
Ireland kick off their campaign against Wales in Cardiff on Feb. 7 before hosting France for the second round of matches and England on the final “Super Saturday.”
“We know where we’re going, we know how far we are and we’ve made good strides; we’re nearly where we want to be,” Farrell told reporters.
“To win the Six Nations there’s a few things we need to do better. We’ve got to through the first game and then we’ll assess where we’re at before thinking about the last game.
“We’re a side that has developed in many ways but we’re [still] putting the pieces together.”
Information from Reuters contributed to this report.