Ireland have no plans to rest skipper Johnny Sexton - defence coach Simon Easterby

Ireland intend to give veteran captain Johnny Sexton as many minutes as he can manage during the Rugby World Cup.

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.

Tougher tests await the world's top-ranked nation as next weekend’s clash against Tonga in Nantes is followed by pivotal Paris appointments with South Africa and Scotland.

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.

Defence coach Simon Easterby said: "Johnny’s not got potentially many more times wearing the green jersey and – those of you who know him – he wants to play every minute that he can.

"That 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.

"But certainly from our end, he’s the captain, he’s the talisman in the squad and the more minutes he can play the better."

Sexton scored two tries as part of a 24-point haul on Saturday afternoon to surpass Ronan O’Gara as Ireland’s leading World Cup points scorer.

Ireland 82-8 Romania highlights

The oldest international in Ireland’s history, who will retire after the tournament, was replaced by Jack Crowley in the 65th minute to a standing ovation.

"I think it’s great that he got that many minutes," said Easterby.

"He looked good, he looked fresh, he was energetic and I guess because of his age and his experience, he doesn’t tend to need a huge amount of rugby to get himself back into the swing of things.

"Training throughout the pre-season has