Ireland out-half Jonathan Sexton insists he is raring to go against France despite trudging off in the final throes of the Wales draw.
Joe Schmidt's men are chasing a second successive victory in France in Paris on Saturday (2.25pm) for the first time since 1927 and the ex-Racing Metro man is adamant that statistic outweighs the fact Ireland have not lost to France since 2011.
France have spent their last three clashes with Ireland heaping the pressure on key man Sexton, and the Leinster playmaker expects another physical examination with Jonathan Danty in Les Bleus' midfield.
"I'm okay now, I just got a bang on top of the head and it just compressed my neck a little bit," said Sexton, who kicked 11 points in the Wales tie.
"But I'm fit to go and really looking forward to it.
"I'll be fine - I probably felt the way front-rowers feel every day, but as a soft out-half I just didn't hide it as well.
"We've only had one chance to see France under their new management, but some of the new individuals they've thrown in have impressed.
"They've got dangerous guys across the backline.
"Just because we've had a little purple patch against them doesn't mean anything now"
"I've played against Danty a few times when I was in Paris, and he's pretty similar to Mathieu Bastareaud in stature.
"He's got a lot of ball-playing abilities and speed to add to that too though.
VIDEO: Johnny Sexton knows the France backline packs a punchhttps://t.co/nB3AWCHBqP
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"But we've prepared really well for it, we've tried to give them the respect they deserve. I don't think you can ever go to Paris confident. They are never beaten over there, it's a tough place to go.
"Just because we've had a little purple patch against them doesn't mean anything now."
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