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Best allays fears over Sexton's fitness

The 32-year-old playmaker had been having treatment on his lower back and belatedly joined their final training session on Friday.

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However, he showed little sign of injury in kicking at goal in the session at Lansdowne Road.

Sexton has been in sublime form in the Six Nations, his drop goal in added time in Paris sealing a thrilling victory in their opening match and he orchestrated a whopping 56-19 win over Italy last time out.

"He [Sexton] was grand, it's just that he's just getting a bit older, so he needed a bit longer to warm up," Best said at his eve of match press conference.

"But he came in to the tail-end of the session.

"He let the subs run at the start and then the starters finished off. No concerns."

The Irish can ill afford to lose a player of Sexton's quality having already been shorn of three other British and Irish Lions in centre Robbie Henshaw, prop Tadgh Furlong and lock Iain Henderson.

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