The Leinster fly-half landed five conversions, three from the touchline, and two penalties on his Test debut.

Left-wing Keith Earls contributed two of the five tries with the others coming from skipper Brian O’Driscoll, Rob Kearney and Shane Horgan.

Earls went in for the first try beside the posts after Eoin Reddan fed him from a scrum with Sexton’s conversion putting Ireland 10-0 ahead.

Ireland’s pressure told just before half-time with Sexton landing his second penalty to leave the hosts 13-3 clear at the interval.

At 13-6 Ireland flanker Denis Leamy had to retire with what seemed to be a bad injury to be replaced by Leinster’s Sean O’Brien.

Fiji then conceded a frustrating try as fly-half Nicky Little saw O’Driscoll intercept his pass and run 40 metres to score with Sexton’s conversion giving Ireland a 20-6 advantage and some breathing space.

The third try came courtesy of a well-worked move, the ball travelling smoothly along the back division for Earls to go over in the corner.

Kearney and Horgan added further scores with the accurate Sexton landing both conversions from the touchline.