Wednesday 27 January 2016 14:19, UK
Ireland fly-half Johnny Sexton is raring to go for the Six Nations after recovering from his latest concussion scare.
The 30-year-old was withdrawn from Leinster's 51-10 Champions Cup defeat by Wasps, but passed initial pitch-side Head Injury Assessment (HIA) and has since completed further tests to return to training.
Ireland head coach Joe Schmidt lamented suggestions his key playmaker should consider quitting the sport to preserve his long-term health.
Schmidt branded those calls "a disappointment", frustrated that observers outside the Ireland camp have questioned expert medical opinion.
"Johnny trained really well yesterday, he's fully fit and ready to go, he's passed his three," said Schmidt ahead of Ireland's Six Nations opener against Wales in Dublin on February 7 where they will begin the defence of their crown.
"That's the protocol. It was this time last year that the problem really arose and he had the break. Since that time he hasn't really had too many problems. I think he's good to go."
There's always concern when we lose the opportunity to manage that player.
Outspoken pundit George Hook has led calls for Sexton to give up rugby over frequent head injuries.
The fly-half was stood down for 12 weeks by French club Racing for suffering four concussions inside 12 months.
Ireland and Leinster have insisted Sexton did not suffer a concussion against Wasps and Schmidt added: "All we can do is go on the medical opinion, and he had two of the best guys that are around.
"When they give him the all-clear we've got a lot of trust in them. If there are people who question that, again it's always a disappointment, but also a reality.
"Because no one's going to have the same opinion necessarily, but what you try to do is get those that are best-qualified to make the decision, therefore not to put somebody at risk."
Schmidt also rubbished suggestions of a mass player drain of Irish stars seeking to play club rugby abroad, in the wake of Marty Moore agreeing to join Wasps in the summer and Ian Madigan heading to Bordeaux.
Keith Earls is close to moving to Saracens, while Simon Zebo has courted a host of offers from France, but despite those negotiations Schmidt remains relatively unfazed.
"There's only Ian Madigan in the squad currently who has signed abroad," said Schmidt, though prop Moore only misses out due to a hamstring injury.
"I've seen the word 'exodus' used a number of times, I've read the book by Leon Uris along with another Leon Uris title. It defies the dictionary definition of 'exodus'.
"There's always concern when we lose the opportunity to manage that player. We get the training volume from the provinces, we know their strength and conditioning programmes, their total training minutes.
"When I arrived at Leinster Ian [Madigan] was learning French, so there was an uneasy feeling at that stage.
"There is competition for Ian, and there's always a risk in him going away. We can't be any more transparent than that really."
