BREAKING: Johnny Sexton banned and fined after disciplinary hearing

The fixtures he will miss are against Italy, England, and Samoa. However, Sexton will be eligible to play in Ireland's World Cup opener against Romania on September 9.

The disciplinary action was taken due to Sexton's admission of misconduct towards match officials following Leinster's defeat by La Rochelle in the Heineken Champions Cup final in May. The European Professional Club Rugby disciplinary committee determined that Sexton's behavior during the incident was "confrontational, aggressive, and disrespectful" towards the match officials.

As a consequence of his actions, Sexton's club, Leinster, has also received a suspended fine of £7,500. Both the club and Sexton have the option to appeal these decisions, with the deadline for appeals set for Wednesday at 16:00 BST.

Although Sexton missed the final due to an injury, he entered the pitch after the match, and it was during this time that he engaged in an exchange with referee Jaco Peyper, who is from South Africa, and other match officials.

To address the matter, Johnny Sexton appeared before an independent disciplinary panel, chaired by Christopher Quinlan KC, via a video conference call on Thursday. It is worth noting that Sexton plans to retire from professional rugby after the World Cup in France.

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Could it be anybody else to start? Farrell fits the label “our guy” better than most, meaning you love to hate him unless he’s in your squad. Then you’d go to the end’s of the earth to defend him.

The England captain, also known as 'Shoulder boy' for his high tackling, does himself no favours with his poor tackling technique.

Although he's currently serving a two-match ban, the fact he often seems to get away with it doesn't help either.

The Saracens star went to school with England teammate George Ford

His education began in rugby league – he joined Wigan St Patricks at the age of eight

He became the youngest ever player to appear in English professional rugby, making his debut aged 17 and 11 days. This record was later beaten by schoolmate Ford

It’s well known that Owen is the son of Ireland head coach Andy Farrell. However, it’s less commonly know that his uncle Sean O’Loughlin is also a rugby league legend, winning 34 caps for Great Britain between 1993 and 2009

He was not at first registered as a Farrell, but took mum Colleen’s family name of O’Loughlin. The couple married in 1995, changing Owen’s surname to Farrell the following year.

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Biggar is the epitome of players you hate until they are on your team.The way the fly-half continues to moan to referees vociferously has seemingly only got worse throughout his career. It got so bad that popular online personality and diehard Scotland fan Glove39 made a video called ‘birdman’ mocking the way in which he always raises his arms in frustration to officials.

White has become arguably the most unpopular player in world rugby over the past 12 months..

Last year, White fell about like a lion had attempted to rip off his face after Faf de Klerk accidentally made contact with it while attempting to dislodge the ball out of his hands as he attempted a pass.

After consulting with the television match official, referee Paul Williams adjudicated that this warranted a yellow card for de Klerk.

This decision sent the world of rugby into meltdown, with criticism coming from all quarters aimed at White for bringing the game into disrepute.

The world Cup-winning lock is undoubtedly world-class, but he is also one of the dirtiest players in the sport. If your team has played against him, you will not be a fan. A proper sh**house, but huge biceps.

The expert in unsportsmanlike behavior. Sexton is skilled in exaggerating contact or distracting officials, knowing precisely when to employ his repertoire of underhanded tactics.

His most recent example of on-field nouse came against Wales just last weekend. The yellow card handed to Liam Williams in the 65th minute for a high hit on Sexton took a while to come as it was reviewed from multiple angles by the officials.

Wales fans piled in on Sexton after the Williams sin-binning, with one writing: 'Sexton play acted a head injury. Blatant cheating.'

Another Wales fan vented: 'That Liam Williams yellow card shows why rugby will be dead in a few years – nothing wrong with Liams body shape and Sexton play acting sums up how rugby has drastically changed for the worse. It’s a mockery to the real injuries.'

Another commented on Sexton being seen winking after the card, and said that his behaviour would "destroy the spectacle that is International rugby"