Johnny Sexton says that he will be hugely motivated to hit the ground running when he finally makes his return in Ireland's World Cup opener against Romania in just under two weeks.
The Ireland captain is expected to be put straight into the starting team for that Pool B opener in Bordeaux, as he looks to get up to speed after close to six months off.
The out-half hasn't played since the Grand Slam decider against England on 18 March because of a groin injury, although part of his layoff was self-inflicted after he was forced to sit out the three warm-up games against Italy, England and Samoa due to suspension.
Sexton picked up a three-game ban after a misconduct charge following Leinster's Champions Cup final defeat to La Rochelle in May where he was found guilty of being "confrontational and aggressive" towards the match officials after the game.
The 38-year-old said he had major regrets over the incident when speaking at Ireland's Rugby World Cup squad announcement on Sunday.
And having cost himself the chance of getting game-time ahead of the tournament, he says he knows there's pressure on him to perform instantly.
"Time will tell, when I get the chance to play, if I get a chance to play, I have to show it," he said.
"I have to show it in training over the next couple of weeks and then I will be motivated to do so. We will see in a couple of weeks."
Sexton (above) said he had nobody to blame but himself for the incident, but added that he was left frustrated by the length of the disciplinary process.
Confirmation that he would face disciplinary action arrived just under six weeks on from the 20 May final, while it was Sunday 16 July before his ban was announced.
"I've never seen another process last eight weeks or seven weeks, whatever it was. So it was incredibly frustrating, not knowing what was going to happen.
"I'm not sure why it took so long but that’s the way it was handled. It doesn’t really matter what I think; I got my suspension and I’ve had to just sit it out and that’s it.
"As I said previously, I made a mistake in that one moment. That's what I held my hand up for.
"I don’t go along with a lot of the other stuff that was thrown at me, but sometimes you’ve just got to take it on the chin.
"I think when it affects your family, you obviously go, 'Why are you upset?', 'This happened, this happened, this happened, this happened, this happened' and still five weeks later this is still happening.
"But I’m not trying to play the victim. I made a mistake and I had to put up with what I had to put up with for seven weeks.
"You have to face up to your actions, and that’s what I did."
Sexton hadn't played in that Champions Cup final due to the groin injury he suffered at the end of the Six Nations, which saw him miss out on the business end of Leinster's campaign.
However, he says he has been back to full fitness for several weeks after coming through his rehab on time.
"For a kicker, to injure your adductors like I did is not ideal but thankfully the IRFU sent me to the best guy in the world.
"He did a great job, he mapped it out for me and he was literally, to the day, accurate in what he told me; when I could return to training when I could kick a ball again. He just mapped it out, knew from his experience. It's very impressive to see.
"Thankfully it's been good over the last number of weeks and hopefully ready to go."
The 2023 Rugby World Cup will be Sexton's fourth, with the out-half set to retire after the tournament.
His previous three campaigns with Ireland have all ended in quarter-final defeats, although he missed the 2015 loss to Argentina due to injury.
Ireland will come into the tournament as the world's number one ranked team, while they are also on a record 13-game winning run.
And he says the experiences they've had over the last two years have given them the belief to reach new heights in 2023.
"What we've done over the last couple of years, how we’ve built from four years ago and got better along the way. I’ve been in groups before where you go to a World Cup and you say we’re here to win it but you don’t often have the achievements to back that up.
"We’ve got things like the Grand Slam, going to New Zealand and winning a series – stuff like that, stuff that when you go back over other teams that have won it, like England in 2003, they said they needed to win a grand slam, they needed to win in the southern hemisphere to win a World Cup.
"So we’ve some evidence to give us a little bit of confidence but we also know that it’s the toughest group that we’ve ever had, the toughest quarter final draw if we can manage to get through our group, so it’s all to do."
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