Sexton starts for Ireland in quarters
The 30-year-old, who went off in the first half of the 24-9 win over France, has provided a rare bit of good news for the Irish this week.
Iconic captain and lock Paul O'Connell and flank Peter O'Mahony were ruled out of the rest of the tournament with injuries, while Sean O'Brien was handed a one week ban for punching French lock Pascal Pape in the stomach.
Iain Henderson, who has had an outstanding tournament, comes into the second row to partner Devin Toner, with Jordi Murphy and Chris Henry filling the flank vacancies left by O'Mahony and O'Brien.
The Irish, who will be captained by No.8 Jamie Heaslip, are bidding to reach the semi-finals for the first time. The Argentinians were in the last four in 2007 having beaten Ireland along the way in the pool stage.
Ireland: 15 Rob Kearney, 14 Tommy Bowe, 13 Keith Earls, 12 Robbie Henshaw, 11 Dave Kearney, 10 Johnny Sexton, 9 Conor Murray; 8 Jamie Heaslip (captain), 7 Chris Henry, 6 Jordi Murphy, 5 Iain Henderson, 4 Devin Toner, 3 Mike Ross, 2 Rory Best, 1 Cian Healy.
Replacements: 16 Richardt Strauss, 17 Jack McGrath, 18 Nathan White, 19 Donnacha Ryan, 20 Rhys Ruddock, 21 Eoin Reddan, 22 Ian Madigan, 23 Luke Fitzgerald.
Date: Sunday, October 18
Venue: Millenium Stadium, Cardiff
Kick-off: 13.00 (12.00 GMT, 09.00 Argentina Time)
Referee: Jérôme Garcès (France)
Assistant referees: Romain Poite (France), Chris Pollock (New Zealand)
TMO: George Ayoub (Australia)
AFP
