Joe Schmidt confident of Jonny Sexton's participation in Six Nations opener

Ireland coach Joe Schmidt expressed confidence in the availability of Jonny Sexton for the opening game of the Six Nations tournament against Scotland despite the Leinster fly-half carrying a calf injury.

The 31-year-old suffered the blow during the 24-24 draw in the European Champions Cup encounter at Stade Pierre Antoine where he was replaced in the 21st minute.

Sexton was named in the Ireland squad for the first two rounds of the Six Nations tournament despite uncertainty over the extent of his injury but if Leinster boss Leo Cullen's words are to be believed, the Ireland playmaker will return to action soon.

"It was just a bit of tightness," said Cullen.

"And when he feels that, he was almost making the call (to come off) himself."

Schmidt echoed Cullen's words and is expecting Sexton to train at full intensity from next week.

"Johnny took a bruised calf into the game against Castres and it just tightened up," said Schmidt.

"There's not a lot of damage there, nothing's showing up that's overly significant.

"Johnny's already starting back doing a little bit.

"We'd be confident he'll be able to train next week and therefore be fully available to face Scotland."

Back-row Sean O'Brien is also recovering from a calf injury but Schmidt added that the 29-year-old is on course with his rehabilitation.

"He's slightly further ahead than Johnny," said Schmidt of O'Brien.

"We're confident he may train before the end of the week fully, but he should train fully next week."

The Ireland boss also had words of consolation for Ian Madigan, who moved to french club Bordeaux from Munster and insisted that his doors for Ireland comeback are not shut. However, he believes young talents like Rory Scannell will make a mark at the international level.

"The first time I saw Rory play for Dolphin against Belvedere he had a fantastic game at 10," said Schmidt.

"There's a big difference between that and Murrayfield but he would be the guy who could cover there.

"We've also got Paddy Jackson available obviously.

"Ian had an injury earlier in the season so he hasn't had a lot of rugby really. I've kept in touch with Ian.

"He would slot back in pretty seamlessly for us, so that's still something potentially that we could look at."