Jonathan Davies blasts committee who 'bottled' Johnny Sexton ...

Jonathan Davies, the BBC commentator and former Wales fly-half, has claimed that an independent disciplinary committee “bottled” the decision to ban Ireland captain Jonathan Sexton for only three matches, after Sexton swore at match officials following the Champions Cup final.

Davies’ comment was in response to a call from former England captain Will Carling for rugby’s authorities to act more decisively when it comes to protecting and defending the “value” of discipline in the sport. Carling recently worked as a leadership mentor with England under Eddie Jones until the Australian’s departure.

In a later post, Carling stressed that he was not referring to Sexton’s suspension directly.

Sexton, who did not play in the final but came on to the pitch afterwards, was found to be “confrontational and aggressive towards and disrespectful of the match officials” by an independent disciplinary committee, with Sexton according to the judgment “pointing his finger” and “shouting something to the effect: “It’s a disgrace you guys can’t get the big decisions right”, accompanied by expletives “most likely the f-word” at referee Jaco Peyper and his assistants, Karl Dickson and Christophe Ridley.

Comparisons have been made between Sexton’s suspension and the 11-game ban handed to Dylan Hartley for calling referee Wayne Barnes “a f------ cheat” during the 2013 Premiership final.

Sexton would have been banned for six matches had it not been for what was described by the committee as “a good deal of genuine mitigation”, citing Sexton’s admission of misconduct, excellent disciplinary record, expression of remorse and character references, as well as his apology to Tony Spreadbury, EPCR’s head of match officials.

Had there been no mitigation then Sexton would have also missed Ireland’s World Cup pool matches against Romania, Tonga and, crucially, South Africa.

Three incidents were addressed during the hearing between Sexton and the officials; shortly after the end of the match, during the medals presentation and after the medals presentation.

Sexton was found to have committed misconduct during the first two incidents, when he was “confrontational, aggressive and disrespectful” and later continued his “hostile animus towards the match officials. He was still publicly venting his anger towards them and had yet to regain his composure”. The third incident was dismissed, with Ridley telling the hearing that Sexton by that time was “measured and not confrontational” when Sexton attempted to apologise to Ridley, to which he was told “not now Johnny”.

In banning Sexton for three matches a number of previous disciplinary decisions were consulted, including Kyle Sinckler’s two-match ban in 2021 for saying “are you f------ serious” to a referee and Jack Nowell’s recent fine (no match ban) for writing on Twitter, “that’s one of the worst decisions I’ve ever seen”.

Sexton’s legal representative, Michael Cush, “relied upon” the Nowell judgment according to the report of the hearing. But the committee “disagreed with the core aspects” of the Nowell case and Cush’s suggestion that a playing ban was a “blunt instrument”.

When giving evidence Sexton described to the committee – made up of Christopher Quinlan KC, Adam Casselden SC and Marcello D’Orey – his “good attitude towards match officials” during his career, while volunteering that on the pitch he “pushed the line” at times.