Six Nations: Ian Keatley expects to sit out France clash with Jonny Sexton returning

Ian Keatley is keen to challenge Johnny Sexton for the Ireland No 10 shirt although he fully expects to lose his place for the clash with France on Saturday.

Keatley enjoyed a positive Six Nations debut on Saturday when he posted a 100 per cent kicking record in their 26-3 win over Italy in Rome.

But Sexton is due to return to Joe Schmidt's squad for their second outing in the tournament after spending 12 weeks on the sidelines recovering from concussion.

Keatley concedes Sexton has to be in the team, as one of the best players in the world in his position, but he is determined to make sure the 27-year-old has a hard battle to keep his place in the longer-term.

Second fiddle

"To be honest Johnny's done so well over the last three or four years he deserves the number-one position," Keatley said.

"He's one of the best out-halves in the world so to be honest I presume that he's going to be straight in there for the French match, even though he hasn't played in a while.

"He's still been keeping fit and you need Johnny Sexton in your team. I can take a lot of confidence from playing in Italy, but also I need to know where I want to get to.

"I know that Johnny is number one, but you can't just accept that. If you're looking to play second-fiddle to someone the whole time you're not going to improve personally.

"So that's what I want to do, I want to keep improving and just keep challenging Johnny and hopefully play in more big games like this.

"With the sub position I don't know what's going to happen there, I'm just delighted with the win in Italy first and foremost.

"And I can still iron out things in my performance. I'm sure I'll go through it with Joe and just look to improve."

Early nerves

Schmidt felt Keatley was nervous during spells of his tournament bow, which the player agreed with, and he feels it is all just part of his learning process.

"A few times leading up to the match I got nervous, I was just thinking to myself that I remembered watching Ireland winning the Six Nations in France last year," he added.

"And I just remembered how much at the time I wanted to be there. I was actually watching it on my own at home and I really wanted to be out there.

"So whenever I got nervous in the week leading up to this game I just reminded myself, 'This is where you want to be, so suck it up'.

"Nerves can be a positive or a negative in a match, everyone gets nervous because it means so much to you.

"So it's just a few deep breaths, with the kicking, out of hand there's a couple I rushed, but after the first 10 minutes once I got settled I felt comfortable out there. Not everyone can be a superstar and just break through, you need a little bit of luck."