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Ireland intend to give veteran captain Johnny Sexton as many minutes as he can manage during the Rugby World Cup.<\/p>\n
Fly-half Sexton returned from an absence of almost six months due to injury and suspension to lead his country to a crushing 82-8 victory over Romania in their Pool B opener in Bordeaux.<\/p>\n
Tougher tests await the world\u2019s top-ranked nation as next weekend\u2019s clash against Tonga in Nantes is followed by pivotal Paris appointments with South Africa and Scotland.<\/p>\n
Ireland face a balancing act of wanting the 38-year-old on the pitch as much as possible while ensuring he is in peak condition for the critical moments.<\/p>\n
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Defence coach Simon Easterby said: \u201cJohnny\u2019s not got potentially many more times wearing the green jersey and \u2013 those of you who know him \u2013 he wants to play every minute that he can.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat will be a conversation between him and Faz (head coach Andy Farrell) and making sure that he and Faz are happy with the discussions and how they want to map out the next couple of weeks.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut certainly from our end, he\u2019s the captain, he\u2019s the talisman in the squad and the more minutes he can play the better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sexton scored two tries as part of a 24-point haul on Saturday afternoon to surpass Ronan O\u2019Gara as Ireland\u2019s leading World Cup points scorer.<\/p>\n
The oldest international in Ireland\u2019s history, who will retire after the tournament, was replaced by Jack Crowley in the 65th minute to a standing ovation.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI think it\u2019s great that he got that many minutes,\u201d said Easterby.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe looked good, he looked fresh, he was energetic and I guess because of his age and his experience, he doesn\u2019t tend to need a huge amount of rugby to get himself back into the swing of things.<\/p>\n
\u201cTraining throughout the pre-season has helped that and has given him plenty of opportunities to play the game, as it were, as opposed to just training and running and doing fitness.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is different in a game and it\u2019s different against opposition that we don\u2019t know what they\u2019re going to do all the time, that makes it a little bit more unpredictable.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut certainly if Johnny is fit and available then it\u2019s great for us and it means that he can keep on playing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ireland fielded 10 World Cup newcomers against Romania, with rookie lock Joe McCarthy claiming one of their 12 tries.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is great to have so many debutants,\u201d said Easterby. \u201cThey all produced some brilliant rugby at times.<\/p>\n
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\u201cFrom that perspective, it\u2019s more about us going week to week and having the right blend, the right dynamic in the side.<\/p>\n
\u201cTonga will be a very different proposition to what we faced (on Saturday).\u201d<\/p>\n