Johnny Sexton will miss Ireland's warm-up games but will be available for his first World Cup group match. Photo: Andrew Matthews. /PA Wire
Jonathan Davies, BBC commentator and former Wales midfielder, said an independent disciplinary committee had «corked up» a decision to suspend Ireland captain Jonathan Sexton for only three matches after Sexton swore at match officials after the Champions Cup Final.
Davies' comment was in response to former England captain Will Carling's call for rugby authorities to act more forcefully when it comes to defending and defending the «value» of discipline in the sport. Carling recently served as a leadership mentor in England under Eddie Jones until the departure of the Australian.
If the values of rugby are important and one of those values is respect, the other must be discipline …then those who run the game must defend and defend those values above all else. If not, then why pretend that we have ….
— Will Carling (@willcarling) July 17, 2023
In a later post, Carling emphasized that he didn't mean to directly suspend Sexton.
Weird that you think my tweet is solely about Johnny! Not at all. Actually I'm a fan of it! More about coaches, players and even fans. We don't hear anything about the game's great values at the moment!! We need !!
– Will Carling (@willcarling) July 17, 2023
Sexton, who did not play in the final but subsequently took the field, was found by an independent disciplinary committee to be «confrontational, aggressive and disrespectful to match officials», with Sexton «pointing the finger» according to the verdict. and «yelling things like, 'It's a shame you guys can't make big decisions right', followed by 'most likely an f-word' swearing at referee Jaco Peiper and his assistants, Karl Dixon and Christophe Ridley.
A comparison has been drawn between Sexton's suspension and an 11-game ban handed down to Dylan Hartley for calling referee Wayne Barnes a «fucking crook» during the 2013 Premier League final.
Sexton would have been suspended for six matches, were it not for what the committee described as «a significant amount of genuine mitigation», citing Sexton's admission of misconduct, excellent disciplinary record, remorse and testimonials, and his apology to Tony Spreadbury, EPCR's head of match officials.
Had it not been for the mitigation, Sexton would also have missed Ireland's World Cup pool matches against Romania, Tonga and most notably South Africa.
Three incidents were considered during the hearings between Sexton and the officials; shortly after the end of the match, during the medal presentation, and after the medal presentation.
Sexton was found to have abused match officials after Leinster's loss. Photo: Stu Forster/Getty Images
Sexton was found to have committed misconduct during the first two incidents where he acted in a «confrontational, aggressive and disrespectful manner» and then continued to display «hostile hostility towards match officials». He was still publicly expressing his anger towards them and had yet to regain his composure.” The third incident was dismissed, and Ridley told the hearing that Sexton was by then «meaningful and non-confrontational» when Sexton attempted to apologize to Ridley, to which he was told «not now, Johnny.»
In under ban Sexton for three matches, a number of previous disciplinary decisions were taken into account, including Kyle Sinclair's two-match ban in 2021 for telling the referee «you're fucking serious» and Jack Nowell's recent penalty (no match ban) for tweeting, «This is one of the worst decisions I've ever seen.»
Sexton's legal representative, Michael Kusch, «relied» on Nowell's decision, according to the hearing report. But the committee «disagreeed on the main points» of the Nowell case and Kush's suggestion that the game ban was a «dumb tool.»
In testifying, Sexton described to a committee composed of Christopher Quinlan, KC, Adam Casselden SC and Marcello D'Orey — his «good attitude towards match officials» throughout his career, although he voluntarily stated that on the field he «pressed the line» at times.
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