Johnny Sexton took a full part in the opening training session at the Aviva stadium against the Ireland Under-20s, showing no ill effects after failing a Head Injury Assessment (HIA) and being taken off in the victory over Scotland at Murrayfield last weekend.
Ireland's defence coach Andy Farrell confirmed that Sexton had no lingering issues arising from the bang to the head he received in the Scottish match. "He is fine. He trained fully. He will be ready to go. He's had no symptoms at all.
“He’s had no complaints throughout the week. As you see the session was pretty intense and it was a good hit out for him. There as some contact, not too much, but there was enough in there. He would have been fine for this weekend.”
There was also good news relating to Robbie Henshaw and the hamstring strain that ruled him out of the Murrayfield game. Farrell explained: "There are a few that we need to keep assessing. Robbie Henshaw will be fit to train next week. Garry Ringrose, we will just assess how he is progressing over the weekend. We will see where we are at next week with him."
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt had 19 players from the Scottish game available for the open training session played put before several thousand spectators young and old in the warm sunshine.
Andrew Porter (Leinster), Ultan Dillane (Connacht), Chris Farrell (Munster) and John Cooney (Ulster) were released back to their provinces to play this weekend.
