MENDOZA: An Argentine court on Tuesday dismissed rape charges against two French international rugby players accused of assaulting a woman after playing a match in the country in July. Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, both 21, were arrested two days after winning their first international caps for France against Argentina in the western city of Mendoza.

A 39-year-old woman, whom they met in a nightclub accused them of a vicious assault in a hotel room. Auradou, a lock with French club Pau, and Jegou, a flanker with the club La Rochelle, insisted they had consensual sex with the woman after a night of drinking following their July 6 match.

A judge in Mendoza dismissed the case on the advice of the prosecution, which called for the charges to be dropped over inconsistencies in the woman’s version of events. “As we expected, the French players have been acquitted because the (sexual) act was consensual, meaning there was no crime and no doubt that they are innocent,” defense attorney German Hnatow announced.

The French rugby federation expressed “relief and satisfaction” at the outcome of the case and said that it paved the way for Auradou and Jegou to be selected again for the national team “if their sporting performances allow for it.” The players were kept in preventive custody for a little over a week in Mendoza and then under house arrest for nearly a month before being allowed to return to France in September after prosecutors said the case against them appeared flimsy.

Auradou, a lock with Pau, and Jegou, a flanker with La Rochelle, were not present in Argentina for Tuesday’s ruling. Their Parisian lawyer, Antoine Vey, on Tuesday hailed their “judicial rehabilitation.” He added that for the players’ “clubs, families and the (French rugby) federation, it was a day they have been waiting for and, which, I hope, will close the difficult chapter that they experienced.”

The complainant has not yet announced whether she plans to appeal the decision. The accusations against Auradou and Jegou, coupled with racist remarks by full-back Melvyn Jaminet, for which he was sent home and given a 34-week suspension, overshadowed the French team’s summer tour of Argentina. French rugby federation president Florian Grill last month announced an overhaul of disciplinary measures in the wake of the scandals.

He also vowed to put an end to the kind of “fourth and fifth half” post-match celebrations that took place in Mendoza. “There will be financial or sporting sanctions” in the future, he continued regretting in previous years “a form of acceptance of these excesses which could sometimes even be organized.” “We cannot take all the positives from rugby, ask brands and partners to associate their image with our presupposed values and not respect them,” he added. — AFP