British and Irish Lions scrum-half Greig Laidlaw has described Johnny Sexton as a "world-class player" and backed his teammate to recover from a lacklustre showing against Provincial Barbarians.
The tourists laboured to a 13-7 victory in their tour opener on Saturday morning, getting themselves over the line thanks to Anthony Watson's winning try.
Sexton was among those to come in for some criticism at full time, failing to make the desired impact and being replaced by Owen Farrell after just 48 minutes.
Laidlaw has leapt to the Irishman's defence, however, telling Sky Sports News: "We know the class of Johnny, he is a world-class player," said Laidlaw. "For nines and 10s, we probably have the hardest job trying to organise everything around us and concentrate on our own game.
"It's always a little bit tougher and when the heat is on and everyone is looking to you to make the calls. Johnny will be back up and running next time he pulls on the jersey.
"The more you play together, the more he would know what I was going to do, just building the relationship. It's about making sure you do that by practising hard in training going forward."
Laidlaw is in contention to start the Lions' next match - a meeting with Blues on Wednesday morning.
Daniel Lewis
