The Super Rugby semifinals are upon us in the southern hemisphere, while there is no shortage of talking points as the northern club season winds down and we continue to shift our focus to the Rugby World Cup.
Read on as we wrap up some of the stories you might have missed across the rugby world this week.
COULD WORLD CUP BE WITHOUT ONE OF ITS BIGGEST STARS?
The short answer to that question is "unlikely". But, my oh my, hasn't Johnathan Sexton's alleged outburst at referee Jaco Peyper following Leinster's loss in the European Champions Cup final set some corners of the rugby world raging.
For those who might not be familiar with the incident, an angry Sexton is alleged to have confronted Peyper to vent his frustrations with some of the referee's decisions after La Rochelle held on for a dramatic win at the Aviva Stadium and a second straight European crown.
Grainy video of the incident appears to show Sexton gesture angrily towards Peyper before he is ushered away by assistant referee Karl Dickson.
Sexton is also alleged to have been involved in a heated exchange with La Rochelle coach and Irish great Ronan O'Gara at halftime of the Champions Cup final, both incidents occurring in a game he was not actually playing with the 37-year-old Ireland playmaker having been sidelined since the conclusion of the Six Nations.
City AM reported Sexton risked a "24-week ban" which could ultimately mean he plays no part in the World Cup, confirming also that he had been served a notice of misconduct by European Professional Club Rugby officials.
While that length of ban seems extreme, some corners of the rugby world will demand Sexton deserves at least some form of sanction, particularly after World Rugby banned Springboks Director of Rugby Rassie Erasmus for 12 months following his YouTube critique of referee Nick Berry during the 2021 British & Irish Lions series. Erasmus was then hit with another ban during the November Tests last year.
Other reports have suggested Sexton could be hit with a 10-week ban, which would mean he could miss one or more of Ireland's World Cup warm-ups.
However, it is expected Sexton will be there for Ireland's World Cup campaign proper, which begins against Romania on Sept. 9. Andy Farrell's team are in a tough Pool B alongside South Africa, Scotland and Tonga, the Pacific Islanders this week naming a training squad that coach Toutai Kefu declared was primed to spring a boilover, or two, in France this year.
CHIEFS TRIO IN FINAL ALL BLACKS AUDITION
The Chiefs will on Saturday host the Brumbies in the second of the Super Rugby Pacific semifinals, the Kiwis chasing a spot in the final for the first time since they lifted the trophy in 2013.
Clayton McMillan's side have been the dominant team all year, losing just once through the regular season, although they were again pushed all the way by that same team, the Reds, in last week's quarterfinals.
McMillan has had to call on the entirety of his wider squad to help manage All Blacks rest weeks and injuries, with the form of three uncapped players catching the eye and putting them on the cusp of a national call-up for the very first time.
Backs Shaun Stevenson and Emoni Narawa, and back-rower Samipeni Finau, now have one last opportunity to impress All Blacks coach Ian Foster - and McMillan says a strong performance against the Brumbies could be decisive and turn "pencil into pen".
"I guess all that they can do, and we can do, is help set up the team to perform well, and when the team does well individuals will prosper," McMillan said.
"Obviously there's been guys that have done particularly well and been consistent with their performance, and have been talked about as potentially getting selected for higher honours. But the team doesn't get selected until Sunday, so Saturday is a great opportunity to turn that pencil into pen."
Given the depth in the outside backs, it may prove that only one of either Stevenson and Narawa graduates to the All Blacks on Sunday; but Finau has definitely emerged as a frontline candidate to fill New Zealand's troublesome No. 6 role.
While it is expected Scott Barrett will spend at least some time on the side of the scrum at the World Cup, the likes of Akira Ioane and Shannon Frizell - who have both donned the black No. 6 jersey - have battled injury and form this season, opening the door for Finau to stake his claim.
BOKS HAVE CONCERNS AT NO. 10 AHEAD OF RUGBY CHAMPIONSHIP OPENER
The opening round of the Rugby Championship is now just three weeks away, with the Springboks set to begin their campaign for the truncated tournament at home to the Wallabies in Pretoria on July 8.
Coach Jacques Nienaber last week named a training squad to begin preparations for the tournament, but he has already been forced to make further additions with veteran fly-half Elton Jantjies this week recalled for the first time since he was involved in an alleged off-field scandal in September last year.
With frontline playmakers Damian Willemse and Handre Pollard both battling injury, Jantjies suddenly finds himself in the frame to face the Wallabies next month.
"Damian has a knee injury and will be touch-and-go (to play Australia), while Handre is definitely out," Bok coach Jacques Nienaber said in a statement on Thursday.
"It means Manie [Libbok] is our only fit fly-half as of today and we can't go into a Test season without any cover. We weighed up the options available locally and overseas - having tracked all of them throughout the season just completed - and Elton is the next fly-half in line."
"He knows our thinking and systems inside out and can slot in easily. We kick off against Australia in three weeks and should Damian Willemse not return to full fitness by then Elton would be ready to play."
WILSON ADDS TO WALLABIES CLAIM WITH SECOND STRAIGHT PILECKI MEDAL
Harry Wilson this week capped another fine season for the Queensland Reds, after taking out the Stan Pilecki Medal as the club's best player for 2023 - his second straight such award.
Wilson was a tireless workhorse for the Reds throughout the Super Rugby Pacific season, making 211 carries through the regular season, 44 more than any other player in the competition. Furthermore, he carried for a total of 1,272 metres to finish fourth in that statistic, and was the only forward to feature in the top 10.
But perhaps more critical for Wilson is that he has also started to prove his worth on the defensive side of the ball, the No. 8 making 20 tackles in the narrow loss to the Chiefs last week, to go with the stellar defensive efforts of teammates Fraser McReight and Matt Faessler.
Wilson was overlooked for the back half of 2022 by former Wallabies coach Dave Rennie, and was then originally left out by Eddie Jones for a training camp earlier this year, before he was later added when other players were ruled out with injury.
But his form late in the Super Rugby Pacific season was excellent, and with concerns around the durability of Langi Gleeson, Wilson could well find himself among the Rugby Championship squad Jones is expected to announce towards the end of next week.
"It means a lot to me and my family, it's something that I didn't really expect this season to be honest with you," Wilson said of the Pilecki Medal. "But I feel really honoured to be in the company of players who've won it twice now. I'm truly grateful for my teammates and everyone I played with this year, and to be given this award is truly special for me."
On the World Cup, Wilson added: "It's something I'd love to be a part of, and for me this year at the Reds was why I was trying to work as hard as I could to be a part of it."
NO DISAGREEMENT OVER ALAALATOA'S FITNESS, BRUMBIES SAY
The Brumbies will again be without skipper Allan Alaalatoa for their semifinal against the Chiefs in Hamilton, despite reports earlier suggesting the Wallabies prop would be good to go.
There were also suggestions that Wallabies medics had overruled their Brumbies counterparts on Alaalatoa's calf injury, which he suffered against the same opposition in Canberra last month.
With a Rugby Championship campaign and obviously the World Cup on the horizon, you can understand why Wallabies coach Eddie Jones would want to be cautious with one of his few tighthead prop options, particularly given Tom Robertson's season-ending injury and the fact that Taniela Tupou has not played at all yet this season.
Despite that, Brumbies coach Stephen Larkham declared that both his medics and those at the Wallabies were all in agreement that Alaalatoa needed another week on the sidelines.
"There were multiple robust discussions over the last week around how quickly he's turned around his injury," he said.
"It is quite remarkable how quickly he's come through all of the processes we put him through, but we're all in agreement that one more week is going to give him his best prep to perform."