Ireland have been dealt a blow ahead of Saturday's Six Nations clash with France after captain Johnny Sexton was ruled out with a hamstring injury.

Having outclassed Wales last weekend, head coach Andy Farrell had wanted to select an unchanged starting lineup for the game in Paris.

However, Sexton sustained an issue with his hamstring in training, resulting in Joey Carbery being drafted in as his replacement and James Ryan taking over the captaincy.

Farrell said: "Johnny's an important member of our group. Being skipper of the side he's integral to how we push forward with many parts of our environment.

"Johnny will travel with us and be as leading as he possibly can be, but this is about the group."

Sexton is expected to be sidelined for 10 days, meaning that he should be available for the meeting with Italy on February 27. body check tags ::