Dan Carter or Aaron Cruden are the only men that could seriously argue otherwise.
The plaudits for Irish out-half Johnny Sexton keep coming. French, then English, rugby players and journalists lined up to lavish the Irish and Racing Métro 10 following their teams’ defeat.
Brian O’Driscoll, on Off the Ball, then came out and anointed his former teammate as the world’s best out-half, at this moment in time.
Those views were backed up by the man that will be backing Sexton up at the Millennium Stadium this weekend.
‘Johnny definitely is the in-form fly-half in the world,’ declared Ian Madigan.
‘There are a few other out-halves playing very well at the moment,’ he added. ‘[France’s] Camille Lopez was playing very well leading into the Six Nations and Dan Biggar’s really stepped up for Wales in the last two games. He’s very much the heartbeat of that Welsh side and a real leader for them.
‘For me they are the guys setting the benchmark. I wouldn’t mould my game on what they are doing, I would just focus on what I’m doing.
‘If I keep working hard on my game I’ll be able to push them hard.’
Asked if he agreed with a widely held opinion that Ireland are too reliant on Sexton, Madigan responded, ‘I would not read too much into those comments, unless they came from someone like Joe Schmidt, or a fellow player.’
Ireland coach Schmidt is fully confident his first-choice out-half can last the pace in Cardiff.
He said, ‘Johnny’s had a very good run into the game, and he’s had no problems right through that.
‘I guess you’ll worry about all the players, about some returning from injury and if they get a knock and get compromised. You can’t calculate for that, but you can make sure you have the cover prepared and ready to go.’
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