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02nd Mar 2015

Get your Mooju back: Johnny Sexton’s concussion lay-off has made him better than ever

He won't stay down

JOE

Ireland’s maestro has done it again…

On December 19, Racing Metro announced Irish fly-half, Johnny Sexton, would have to miss 12 weeks due to four concussions in the one year.

Ireland fans gasped.

This meant our star player would miss the first game of the Six Nations and would be lacking match fitness for our trip to Paris and our clash with England.

We shouldn’t have worried. A break from the gruelling Top 14 schedule was literally exactly what the doctor ordered for Sexton.

We thought he would take a while to get back into his groove. What we forgot is Johnny never leaves the groove.

It’s a testament to Sexton and the Irish coaching staff that he has looked sharper than ever since his return.

Sexton’s importance to Ireland’s cause can not be overstated.

The two Ians, Keatley and Madigan, are good players, but they cannot control a game the same way Sexton can.

Man-mountain Mathieu Bastareaud ran head first into Sexton several times when Ireland faced France. It was the centre who came off the worse.

The big hit Sexton put in on rookie number 10, George Ford, let England know that we were ready for a fight.

His tactical kicking is always exceptional too.

When Sexton left the pitch on the 55th minute he had contributed much more than just four penalties and a conversion.

He had made Ireland an unstoppable force and England were already defeated.

Ronan O’Gara describes him as ‘the nerd’, Billy Keane said he has ‘a bit of the devil in him’ and today’s Daily Telegraph name him as the world’s best 10 at the moment.

We just want to call him ‘match-fit’.

That twinge which saw him leave the field has us ringing our grannies asking for novenas and lit candles.

A visit to Cardiff to face Warren Gatland’s Wales is always a tough task. It could be much tougher without this magician.

Get your Mooju back with great tasting chocolate and strawberry milk…