EVEN THOUGH THEY’RE only in their third week of pre-season training together, tomorrow is an important day for Ireland’s World Cup campaign.
The key events won’t take place at the IRFU’s training centre in Abbotstown, but rather online in a video conference which Johnny Sexton and representatives of Leinster will be part of.
This independent disciplinary hearing relates to events after Leinster’s defeat to La Rochelle in the Champions Cup final in Dublin in May.
That’s a long time ago already, but EPCR, the tournament organiser, said its disciplinary officer undertook “thorough fact finding and careful review” of Sexton’s behaviour towards referee Jaco Peyper and his assistants.
The disciplinary officer then made formal complaints, meaning the independent panel at tomorrow’s hearing must decide whether Sexton, “through his behaviour” committed misconduct. The complaint against Leinster is “through failing to exercise reasonable control” over Sexton.
That it took a month and ended up with formal complaints and a hearing probably doesn’t bode well for Sexton. In the days after the final, video footage appeared of Sexton – who did not play in the game due to injury – approaching Peyper, Karl Dickson, and Christophe Ridley and making a brief comment.
It has been alleged by South African newspaper Rapport that Sexton told the match officials, “You’re a f**king disgrace” before walking away.
Tomorrow’s disciplinary panel have the job of getting to the bottom of the matter and deciding what was and wasn’t said, and whether Sexton’s behaviour amounted to misconduct.
The panel is made up of England’s Christopher Quinlan, Adam Casselden of Australia, and Portugal’s Marcello D’Orey. Their decision could have a telling impact on Ireland’s World Cup preparations. Sexton’s Leinster career is now over, so any ban will only affect his Ireland swansong.
Andy Farrell’s men have three World Cup warm-up games before the tournament itself. They host Italy in Dublin on 5 August, then welcome England to the Aviva Stadium on 19 August, and finish with a clash against Samoa in Bayonne, France on 26 August.
Ireland’s opening World Cup pool game sees them face Romania on 7 September before they take on Tonga, South Africa, and Scotland.
Sexton hasn’t played any rugby since suffering a groin injury in March while helping Ireland to their Grand Slam and despite his history of getting back up to speed after lengthy spells on the sidelines, it would obviously be far from ideal if he is banned even for a couple of the warm-up games.
The looming question is how long a suspension Sexton could face if he is found guilty of misconduct. There is no exact precedent, but there have been a few cases relating to players’ and coaches’ behaviour towards or words about match officials.
Back in 2013, former England captain Dylan Harley missed out on the Lions tour after being red-carded and then banned for calling referee Wayne Barnes a “f**king cheat” during the Premiership final. Hartley argued that his words were directed at an opposition player and not Barnes, but he was slapped with an 11-week ban.
Just last year, Pau coach Sébastien Piqueronies was given a 10-week suspension, mitigated down from 20 weeks, after a disciplinary panel found him guilty of “using threatening words and actions towards the referee” after an EPCR Challenge Cup game against the Cheetahs.
The actual citing against Piqueronies was for allegedly physically abusing the referee, but the panel did not rule against him on that specific complaint.
South African boss Rassie Erasmus was banned from all rugby for two months and being involved in matches for 10 months for his hour-long video critiquing the performance of referee Nic Berry during the 2021 Lions tour.
Erasmus was then given a two-match ban last year for posting tweets that were perceived to be critical of referees. Earlier this year, Exeter’s Jack Nowell was fined £10,000 for a Twitter post questioning a decision made by referee Karl Dickson. Nowell avoided a ban.
La Rochelle head coach Ronan O’Gara has had bans for incidents relating to match officials in France. Last September, he was handed a six-week ban for “disrespecting the authority of a match official” and then he got a 10-week suspension in November after “remarks to a match official.”
It remains to be seen exactly what happens in tomorrow’s hearing, which is expected to start early in the day. One aspect worth noting is that this is a “misconduct complaint” against Sexton, rather than a specific citing under a World Rugby regulation such as 9.28.
There are a few sections of 9.28, including one which states that “a player must not disrespect the authority of a Match Official.” Players guilty of doing so can be given bans with entry points ranging from the low-end of 2 weeks/games, through the mid-range of 4 weeks, to a top-end of 6+ weeks/games. That’s without any mitigation.
9.28 also says that “a player must not use threatening actions or words towards Match Officials,” with a low-end ban for that charge resulting in a 12-week/game suspension before mitigation. Mid-range is 24 weeks, while top-end is 48+ weeks.
But this complaint against Sexton doesn’t refer specifically to 9.28, leaving the independent panel with a bit of discretion if they are deciding on a suspension for Sexton. They could well refer to World Rugby’s guidelines for entry points, but may not have to be slavish to them.
All of this is merely speculation ahead of tomorrow’s video conference. The written reports from such hearings often make for interesting reading, and this one will certainly be in that bracket.
Sexton, Farrell, and Ireland will be waiting anxiously on the verdict.
