WATCH: Johnny Sexton is lucky to escape another injury after this off-the-ball challenge by Yoann Maestri

We can't say we weren't warned.

The French made no secret of that fact that they intended to target Johnny Sexton during Saturday's game at the Stade de France. It was all over their media, their coach barely mentioned a single other Irish player. And while Joe Schmidt and Johnny Sexton would have been prepared for some bone crunchers from the French, they may have expected them to at least pretend to abide by the rules. Instead, after just 13 minutes Sexton was clattered off the ball by Yoann Maestri (watch carefully on the right hand side of the clip below). Thankfully Ireland's talisman was able to dust himself off and successfully kick a penalty a few minutes later, but Maestri was extremely luck to escape a yellow card. And certainly the Irish fans watching back on on TV were pretty pissed off. https://twitter.com/ElliotKDavis/status/698517711857569794 https://twitter.com/eoghanclogher/status/698520137419378689 https://twitter.com/jackjotoole/status/698518604652900353 https://twitter.com/GRowan560/status/698518581378707456 https://twitter.com/andymcgeady/status/698517806963388416