Jonathan Sexton has hit out at claims he should not have played in Saturday's victory over France because of the heavyweight presence of Mathieu Bastareaud, branding such suggestions as "absolute stupidity".

The fly-half made his return to action at the Aviva Stadium after a mandatory 12-week lay-off following four concussions in 2014, but some, such as Former France international Laurent Benezech, questioned whether Ireland were risking Sexton's health by throwing him straight back into the Test arena.

Sexton certainly took some beating as he steered Ireland to an 18-11 victory, including several heavy collisions with Bastareaud. One such clash forced Sexton into the blood bin with a nasty cut above his eye, but the stand-off insisted he was more than prepared for the brutal encounter and that those suggesting otherwise were wide of the mark.

"The doctors did a great job and I was fine," Sexton said. "Head-wise I felt great. I was really happy. I was almost pleased to get a bang like that so it proves to myself there is no issue going forward. It's just great to put it to bed now.

"I had been out of the game for 12 weeks. One guy says that I shouldn't play because Bastareaud is playing. If that's the case, then I can never play because next week I am going to have to play against Fritz Lee [of Clermont Auvergne] and then it will be [England's Billy] Vunipola.

"It's absolute stupidity to say that I shouldn't play because Bastareaud was playing. Joe Schmidt gets told by the doctors who is fit and who's not. I don't know why he got brought into it by this fella who seems to have an opinion on everything.

"Of course I understand the concern. But when you get kept out of the game for 12 weeks and then someone says you shouldn't play because there's one certain player playing against you, it's just stupid."

Sexton confirmed that he will return to club side Racing Metro for their Top 14 match against joint-leaders Clermont, saying that he is desperate for game time after spending three months on the sidelines.

"I need game time," he said. "I've been away for 12 weeks and I did feel a bit rusty at times tonight, so I think I'll be better with another 50 or 60 minutes.

"Then we play England on Sunday and there's a short turnaround for Racing's next game against Grenoble, so that will be one that maybe we'll have to manage in terms of if I play three games on the bounce, whereas at the moment I'm mad keen to get back and get more game time."

Jonathan Sexton took a blow to the head after clashing with Mathieu Bastareaud © PA

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