Johnny Sexton 'mad keen' to go on Ireland's tour of Australia
Thursday 22 March 2018 13:16, UK
Johnny Sexton "definitely" wants to play in Ireland’s three-Test tour of Australia this summer.
Joe Schmidt's Grand Slam champions will face the Wallabies in Brisbane (June 9), Melbourne (June 16) and Sydney (June 23) as they look to cement their status as the No 2 team in world rugby behind New Zealand.
Some have suggested Schmidt should consider resting key players such as Sexton, Conor Murray, Rory Best and Tadhg Furlong, who all toured with the British and Irish Lions last summer, but the Leinster fly-half is desperate to play.
"As a player you want to play, I want to play for Ireland as many times as I can and the same with Leinster," Sexton told The Irish Independent's Left Wing podcast.
"We are very well looked after in Ireland and one of the biggest reasons in coming back to Ireland was to be under that IRFU umbrella. I want to play as many games and if I'm fit, I definitely want to go."
The rationale for resting Sexton and selected others would be to keep them fresh and healthy ahead of the 2019 World Cup.
However, Sexton feels it is a great opportunity for Ireland to make a statement of intent ahead of the showpiece in Japan, in a similar fashion to England in 2003, when they defeated the All Blacks on home soil before going on to win the World Cup in Australia later that year.
"When you are thinking about the World Cup in a few years' time you want to tick as many boxes as you can to give yourself confidence going into it," he said.
"We can beat teams at home but you don't get a home game in a World Cup and we have to know that we can beat these big teams away from home too.
"Leading into a World Cup it is important to tick boxes along the way and beating Australia away from home would definitely be one of those so I would be mad keen on going."
