Had Beckham committed a comparable offence when playing for Manchester United, he would not only have been pilloried, but suspended by England for a significant number of matches. And rightly so.
By seeking the rewards of professionalism, rugby players sacrificed the protection which excused their excesses of misconduct as laddish pranks. They should expect to be held as accountable as soccer stars for their rushes of blood and their pranks of schoolboyish vandalism.
That this is not happening is neither the fault of Johnson nor of England coach Clive Woodward. They grew up in a culture of blind-eye tolerance and work within its unwritten parameters.
The blame rests with rugby's ruling authorities.
Just as the FA excludes its worst offenders from selection for the national team, so should the RFU. It should not leave it to the national team boss to do its dirty work.
Let us be clear about this: No England soccer manager, Sven Goran Eriksson included, would cut off his nose to spite his team by leaving out his captain - or any of his key players for that matter - unless he was required to do so.
Equally, if the system permits Woodward to field Johnson, or any other top player who has transgressed, in the Stade de France then be sure that he will do so.
But that does not mean that the system is right and proper.
Not that we should have much truck with the French protestations that they are omitting a suspended punch-thrower of their own. They have no appeals procedure, but if they had, then let there be no doubt that they would be manipulating it just the same as England.
Woodward's job, difficult enough in itself, is to Grand Slam European rugby en route to wrenching the Rugby World Cup out of the grip of the Southern Hemisphere.
It is up to his employers to lay down the ground rules within which he has to pursue those objectives, then to be judged themselves by the extent to which they have affected the outcome.
Using television to propel rugby union to the forefront of the national consciousness carried with it an obligation upon the mandarins of Twickenham to set a moral example to the youth of this country.
Failure to meet that standard of duty is more cowardly than any punch thrown in ignorance and anger, no matter how surreptitious.
