Sexton and Larmour provide Six Nations boost for Ireland

Captain Johnny Sexton and wing Jordan Larmour are expected to be fit for Ireland’s opening game of the Six Nations against Scotland.

Sexton has not featured since early last month due to a knee injury but hopes to play a full part in training on Thursday.

The fly-half is optimistic he will be ready to lead his country when they take on Scotland at the Aviva Stadium a week on Saturday, having been named as skipper for the tournament by new head coach Andy Farrell.

“Everything’s been going to plan, so hopefully I’ll take a full part in training tomorrow,” said Sexton. 

“I’ve had no setbacks, once everything goes smoothly in training I’ll be available for selection. I think everyone wants to be captain, it’s an honour that I was asked to do it. 

“Obviously it’s a campaign by campaign thing at the moment [being skipper], so we’ll see how it goes over the next eight weeks.”

Larmour damaged his foot in Leinster’s European Champions Cup victory over Benetton last weekend, but Farrell is hopeful the flyer will be available for the opening weekend of the Six Nations.

Farrell said: “We met up yesterday and had a bit of a walk-through so he was able to partake in that. We’ll take it day by day, it’s not serious but we’ll see how it goes.

“Obviously there’re some new guys who are going to freshen things up, but it’s not just about that, it’s a matter of picking people in form.”

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