Rumours have been spreading all week after Johnny Sexton received a misconduct letter for his behaviour at the Champions Cup Final. With the Ireland captain looking down the barrel at a potentially lengthy ban only months out from the World Cup, old foe Ronan O'Gara was in no doubt over what Sexton's punishment should be.
Talk of a ban first came to light after O'Gara's La Rochelle beat Leinster in the Champions Cup final with rumours alleging that Sexton had been involved in some sort of altercation with the referees at halftime, despite not being included in the matchday squad.
In what was an exciting game riddled with rumours of controversial antics, with reports at the time suggesting that Sexton, O'Gara, Will Skelton and Sean O'Brien were all involved in dramatic half-time altercations. Tournament organisers EPCR vowed to investigate as soon as possible.
As a result of the investigations, Johnny Sexton was issued with a misconduct letter this week, after being accused of approaching and shouting obscenities at referee Jaco Peyper and his team of officials.
While the 37-year old is well known for his testy relationship with officials one of them described Sexton's behaviour as 'intimidating' meaning the out-half could be facing a potentially lengthy ban that could rule him out of Ireland's key warm-up games.
After the whistle went Sexton changes direction to approach the refereeing group. Dicko sees him coming and tries to block him but Johny won't be stopped from having at least a say pic.twitter.com/ij6Sl8J4Fl
— Province Fan (@ProvinceFan) May 29, 2023
Ronan O'Gara gives impassioned defence of Johnny Sexton
Despite sharing one of the fiercest rivalries ever in Irish sport in the past, Ronan O'Gara has come rushing to the defence of his former Racing 92 student Johnny Sexton, describing him as a 'role model'.
Speaking to Off The Ball this morning Ronan O'Gara didn't mince his words on the issue.
Johnny's a competitor, a great guy, there shouldn't be a ban for Johnny. There shouldn't be! I'd be strong in that.
I didn't see any videos but I know the character very well, an insane competitor, maybe his temper flared over for a second or two but the guy is a role model in Irish rugby, in what he has done, I think people need to move on with it.
While Ronan O'Gara knows the wrath of Sexton's temper all too well, he joined Mack Hansen in urging people to move on. The La Rochelle boss even went one step further, accusing people of stirring this up for their own agendas.
It's something that's been completely stirred up depending on different people's agendas.
This close to the World Cup any ban for Sexton will be disastrous with the out-half potentially at risk of missing out on Ireland's World Cup warm-up games in August or even worse, World Cup games themselves.
Whether the misconduct letter will affect his tournament or not is yet to be seen. However, O'Gara clearly thinks that a ban for Sexton should be out of the question and is merely being drummed up to suit certain people's agenda.
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