JONATHAN SEXTON SAYS his concussion diagnosis was “scary” and initially believed it wasn’t serious.

Speaking on the Down the Blind Side podcast, he admitted to being reluctant to accept his doctor’s advice on the injury at the time.

“In hindsight it was probably the right thing to do, but at the time, I probably didn’t agree with [my doctor] because I didn’t feel the concussions were serious — I never lost consciousness, I never got sick, I never had memory loss, but my tests were down, I was a bit lethargic, I had mild headaches…

Sexton is expected to be fit in time for Ireland’s Six Nations clash with France, and he admitted he felt “guilty” that he was injured on Ireland duty and would also likely return to play for Ireland rather than Racing Metro.

He added that he is now feeling almost fully recovered and suggested the time away from the sport could prove to be a blessing in disguise.

“I’m feeling much better now over the last couple of weeks. I was never really bad despite what had been reported. I just had to take the 12 weeks.

The 29-year-old out-half said that the high number of concussions he had suffered was particularly alarming from the doctor’s perspective.

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“It was scary because I didn’t think it was serious when I went to meet him, but he was concerned about the number [of concussions] I had. I know any head injury is serious but I’m the only one that knows how I feel and I was confident that I was getting better and I feel 100% now and ready to go.”

Meanwhile, Sexton dismissed the suggestion that certain provinces’ indifferent form of late could hamper Ireland’s confidence going into the Six Nations.

“The form of provinces and the international team never correlate. If it did, we’d have won four of five Six Nations consecutively.”

He also revealed that Jamie Roberts earned the nickname ‘Jimmy Vacances’ [Jimmy Holidays] owing to his prolonged absence through injury last year.

“Everyone felt sorry for him but it didn’t stop us slagging him… The shoe is on the other foot now and they call me ‘Johnny Vacances’.”

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