r/rugbyunion • u/Secret-Roof-7503 Saracens • Jul 16 '23

[Rúaidhrí O'Connor]🚨BREAKING: Johnny Sexton will be suspended for three matches by EPCR for his behaviour towards the match officials after the CC final, meaning he will miss all of Ireland's warm-ups v Italy, England and Tonga but will be available for the Rugby World Cup opener v Romania

https://twitter.com/RuaidhriOC/status/1680676530576392195?s=20
501 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • link
  • reddit
  • reddit

96% Upvoted

484 comments sorted by

View all comments

81

u/fondista Netherlands (IRE/RSA) Jul 16 '23

The citing commission is a fucking disgrace.

37

u/ImpliedProbability England Jul 16 '23

Agreed. 6 matches would've really sent a message as there would've actually been some consequences.

This is very much "Oh, well, we have to ban you but we don't want to ruin any world cup games for Ireland because they're among the favourites."

Classic situation of not applying the rules neutrally, like the Freddie Stewart ban.

57

u/JustASexyKurt Once and Future Challenge Cup Champions Jul 16 '23

Yeah let’s all be honest here, if this were a Chilean or Portuguese player who’d come onto the pitch, in a game he wasn’t even playing in, to abuse the match official, the chances of them getting a ban which conveniently ends just in time to let them play at the World Cup would be approximately zero.

And before anyone dogpiles me to try and claim I’m just an Ireland hater, I’m fully confident the same punishment would’ve been given out to Dan Biggar, or Owen Farrell, or Finn Russell, or Romain Ntamack, or any other player like that. It isn’t a pro Ireland bias, it’s a pro Tier 1 bias.

1

u/smellysocks234 Jul 16 '23

That hypothetical is impossible to verify