Johnny Sexton was given a three game ban for his remarks to the referee in the Champions Cup final back in May between Leinster and La Rochelle at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
Today a lot of England fans couldn’t both compare the 11 game ban Dylan Hartley got for doing something similar to Wayne Barnes in the Premiership final a number of years ago.
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Disingenuous at the least to compare. Hartley also had a record of biting,gouging and punching. He also called the ref a cheat.
— James (@gortoshay) July 17, 2023
Dylan Hartley seeing Sexton’s ban pic.twitter.com/f7vVvPvVAP
— Chris Jones (@Joneschristoff) July 16, 2023
This is factually correct but missed one rather enormous salient point: Hartley had already served over 30 weeks of bans when he received this one, therefore would have got little or no mitigation when getting the 11. Sexton's record is somewhat cleaner https://t.co/kvRZUDzd8x
— Andrew McKenna (@talkMacca) July 17, 2023
I've seen a few comments about Sexton's disciplinary history, and comparisons to Dylan Hartley.
He's spiky on the pitch but Sexton has received 4 yellow cards in his pro career and none in the last 6 years.
He has never been sent off.
He'll never be as good as ROG though 😉
— Patrick Noonan (@Pa_Noonan) July 17, 2023
Should be banned for the tournament. Dylan Hartley got 11 weeks for calling Wayne Barnes a Fucking Cheat in 2013, yet Sexton only gets 3 games for being abusive to the ref.😒 https://t.co/pWo6mILYzQ
— Pasty (@Gregor_McBeth) July 17, 2023
Hartley got 11 weeks. Sexton 3. Seems a but unbalanced.
— Phil Elkins (@PhilFarmVet) July 16, 2023
Irish fans will be delighted that Sexton is available for the Rugby World Cup in September in France, his the Irish captain and pivotal to Ireland if this Irish team are to have any chance of winning the World Cup or even making it to a semi-final for the first time ever in Irish rugby history.