An extremely reckless attempt to tackle Johnny Sexton by Alex Dunbar ended in Sexton being flipped onto his head. It came after Sexton's head collided with Dunbar's knee. Dunbar was yellow-carded for the incident. Pay close attention to Sexton's appeal to the referee before going down clutching his head:
Many were quick to decry Sexton for his over-reaction, most of which have previously played for either England or Scotland:
#sexton is a joke. Talk about playing up to the ref.#IREvSCO
— Luke Cornish (@LukeBCornish) March 19, 2016
Maybe Dunbar shouldn't flip Sexton like that. But Sexton, please don't appeal and then hold your head after. #notfootballkid
— Tom May (@TomMay1) March 19, 2016
Sexton feigning injury - poor.
— Brian Moore (@brianmoore666) March 19, 2016
Sometimes this game annoys me, penalty I could have lived with there but it’s not a yellow especially with Sexton’s play acting
— Mike Tindall (@miketindall13) March 19, 2016
Sexton playing this ref for all he's worth. #footballer
— Ian Teasdale (@IanTease) March 19, 2016
Sexton making a meal of that, nothing in that #IREvSCO #6nations
— David M (@davidmajestic83) March 19, 2016
Come on sexton we are not footballers.
— Lewis Moody (@LewisMoody7) March 19, 2016
We disagree with such an opinion. We think that Sexton's reaction was owing more to the fact he was kneed to his head and subsequently dumped on his shoulder. In any event, if Sexton has to appeal to the referee for the protection he failed to get in earlier games (the hit from Yoann Maestri in Paris springs to mind), it is probably no bad thing.
Tempers flared late on, with Sexton attracting the ire of the Scottish players. The Irish out-half was sent to the sin-bin late on:
Sexton is a warrior - typified by becoming the 1st out half to be binned for sacking a maul. #IREvSCO pic.twitter.com/6JsHocXgd4
— Trevor Hogan (@TrevHogan) March 19, 2016
Relations remained poor after the game, with Sexton appearing to exchange verbals with some of the Scottish players afterwards:
What was or wasn't said? #Sexton pic.twitter.com/8VRxYPXURj
— Hugh C (@hughchal) March 19, 2016
Regardless of Sexton's ambition, we think rugby has bigger things to worry about in relation to its officiating. This year's Six Nations has shown some extreme inconsistencies from referees, citing commissioners and TMOs.
