Former Leinster player Bernard Jackman does not believe that the ECPR will hand out an alleged lengthy ban to Johnny Sexton for his conduct in the Champions Cup final.
Leinster and La Rochelle both played each other in this year's final, and it was the French side that managed to come out on top in May. However, Sexton's conduct became one of the main talking points around the final.
Sexton, who has not played rugby since Ireland won the Grand Slam in March, is alleged to have mouthed obscenities towards the three on-pitch officials. The three officials—South African referee Jaco Peyper and English linesmen Karl Dickson and Christophe Ridley—were alleged to be on the receiving end of Sexton's obscenities in the final.
According to the publication CityAM, the Leinster out-half and his home province received a letter from the EPCR about their misconduct this week. A 10-week ban for Ireland's captain has been mooted in rugby circles.
If Sexton does receive the ban, his first game back will be Ireland's warm-up game against Samoa on August 26. This means that Sexton will have played one game under his belt in six months before the World Cup.
This will be a major blow for Ireland and Andy Farrell, who intend to win their first World Cup this year.
Bernard Jackman was speaking to @Darrenfrehill on @morningireland https://t.co/Ew9BHlIkIe #RTErugby
— RTÉ Rugby (@RTErugby) June 13, 2023
Jackman believes there is no risk of Ireland's star player receiving such a punishment: "You'd imagine the EPCR, if they are going to bring discipline into it, they would need to do it quite quickly. It's dragging on quite a long time," said Jackman on RTÉ Radio 1's Morning Ireland on Tuesday.
"I wouldn't say there's any risk of him not being able to play in the World Cup. If there is going to be disciplinary [action], I would say it'd be a fine or maybe a small suspension, maybe putting him out of warm-up games. But I think this will go away quite quickly."
"When you hear of a 24-week ban and then you see some of the suspensions that have been handed out for actual physical acts, which endanger players' safety... this was in the heat of battle, very emotional after a game Leinster lost in another Champions Cup final when they haven't won it for a while.
"I think referees, officials all understand there's emotion involved, there's a lot of passion involved. While it wasn't something that we condone, I think this can be dealt with pretty easily over the next week or two."
Sexton and the Ireland team will join Andy Farrell's 42-man summer training squad next Monday.
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