Johnny Sexton back in Ireland camp as World Cup training begins - but captain is still under disciplinary cloud

The European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR) investigation into Sexton’s conduct during last month’s Champions Cup final is ongoing and the now former Leinster star could yet face disciplinary sanctions. A month on from the defeat to La Rochelle, Sexton still does not have clarity on where he stands.

Leinster have been sent a misconduct letter by the tournament organisers who’ve canvassed the match officials for their accounts of the events that unfolded at half-time, when there was a row in the tunnel between members of the Leinster and La Rochelle parties including Sexton, Seán O’Brien and Ronan O’Gara outside the referee’s room, and after the full-time whistle when Sexton was seen confronting the officials on the pitch.

Last week O’Gara went to bat for Sexton, saying his former rival should not face any sanction.

The out-half was not part of the match-day squad on the day, having been ruled out with injury after hurting his groin in the Grand Slam decider against England in March.

Ireland hope that their skipper can return to training this week as they begin their World Cup training camp, with all 42 players selected reporting for duty in good health.

Andy Farrell’s squad will train at the IRFU’s High Performance Centre at Abbotstown in north Dublin over the next couple of weeks, with head of strength and conditioning coach Jason Cowman whipping them into shape for the campaign to come.

They’ll train in Ireland over the next six weeks before their schedule gets under way with a game against Italy at the Aviva Stadium on August 5. Then, it’s off to Portugal for a week’s warm-weather training on the Algarve before they take on England in Dublin on August 19 and finally, they spend a week in Biarritz before facing Samoa in Bayonne on August 26. Farrell will name his final 33-man squad before then.

“It’s great to be in, I had a lovely break and the body is feeling good. I’m very excited for a tough few months ahead,” Josh van der Flier told IRFU TV.

“It’ll be pretty intense, it always is. We won’t be thinking about trying to get places first, it’s just about trying to get back fit. We’ll train hard and try to get as good as we can over the next few weeks for the first games.”