Sunday 4 June 2017 18:45, UK
Johnny Sexton will prove his "world-class" abilities in New Zealand despite a tough opening with the British and Irish Lions, according to Greig Laidlaw.
Sexton has come in for heavy criticism after the Lions laboured to a 13-7 win over the New Zealand Provincial Barbarians in their tour opener on Saturday.
The Irishman struggled in Whangarei and was replaced by Owen Farrell after just 48 minutes, with the Saracen making an instant impact to help send Anthony Watson over for the Lions' match-winning try.
Scotland scrum-half Laidlaw insists however that Sexton can recover from his poor start and display his best form in New Zealand.
"We know the class of Johnny, he is a world-class player," said Laidlaw. "For nines and 10s, we probably have the hardest job trying to organise everything around us and concentrate on our own game.
"It's always a little bit tougher and when the heat is on and everyone is looking to you to make the calls. Johnny will be back up and running next time he pulls on the jersey.
"The more you play together, the more he would know what I was going to do, just building the relationship. It's about making sure you do that by practising hard in training going forward."
Maintenance engineer Sam Anderson-Heather's try put the Barbarians 7-3 up at half-time in Whangarei, but the Lions squeaked home thanks to Watson's 54th-minute score.
The Lions face the Blues on Wednesday in Auckland in the second game of their 10-match tour and Laidlaw is confident Warren Gatland's side can quickly hit their stride after a poor start.
"I am absolutely delighted and very honoured to have worn the jersey," said Laidlaw.
"Now I have got the taste of it I want to get out there again. Next time I get an opportunity I want to get out there and play again.
"There were a lot of positive things from the coaches, they were delighted with the win and just want to keep pressing on now, keep getting better day in, day out, and making sure next time we take the field we are a bit better so we can go on and win more games.
"It was very calm at half-time, which was good. It was calm heads and calm voices which we had just to be able to build that second-half performance.
"We were hanging on at times in the second half, so it was good messages at half-time and we came out and executed in the second half.
"We stepped off the plane and were straight into it. But we are happy to win. We created opportunities, even though we obviously didn't take them. But we would be a lot more worried if we weren't creating opportunities.
"Time together in the saddle will be very important now in training, putting together combinations and the team that goes out together on Wednesday, that is the next task in hand. We need to make sure we go and win that now."
