Paul O'Connell on Johnny Sexton ban: 'I'd say it's a worry for him'

Paul O'Connell says he doesn't doubt Johnny Sexton's ability to quickly find his form at the Rugby World Cup, but admits the Ireland captain will be feeling the pressure to hit the ground running.

Sexton will miss Ireland's upcoming Rugby World Cup warm-up games due to the three-match suspension he picked up in the fallout from Leinster's Champions Cup final defeat to La Rochelle, which means he will head into the tournament having not played in close to six months following a groin injury.

"I'd say it's a worry for him, you know. He wants to finish playing really, really well, and I'd say he'd love to have a few more games under his belt," the Ireland forwards coach says.

However, O'Connell says that he has full confidence in the 38-year-old to avoid rust at the tournament in September.

"It's a big strength of his because he's had to do it so often. He is very good at being able to come back from injury and hit the ground running.

"Out-half, you need to be fit but it's maybe not the work rate position that a back three or maybe even some of the forwards is. You can come in and hit the ground running pretty well and he's been really good at that. Whenever he's come back from injuries, he rarely needs a lot of games to get back up and running. It's a real strength of his.

"He's trained since the start of preseason pretty much, he hasn't missed a training session and the way we've trained, a lot of it has been has been rugby. For sure, you're missing a bit of the heavier contact part to that week to week. We've no choice with that. We have to manage them and keep them injury free, so that'll be the final piece of the jigsaw for him.

"I would say coming closer to the end of August there will probably be a bit of heavier contact