France's tour in turmoil as further two players arrested on sexual assault charges

France’s tour of South America has gone from bad to worse this week. One player has been sent home for racist and threatening remarks, whilst another two are now reportedly set to be arrested on sexual assault charges.

It was reported yesterday that France fullback Melvyn Jaminet had taken a video of himself making racist remarks and threatening violence against a group. Today it’s also been reported that on the same night, two of his teammates were potentially involved in a sexual assault in Mendoza, the area in which the players were out drinking.

Backrow Oscar Jegou, 21, and second-row Hugo Auradou, 20, were detained in Buenos Aires on Monday and are to be transported back to Mendoza where the incident reportedly took place.

“If the facts are proven, they are incredibly serious,” French Rugby Federation president Florian Grill told journalists.

“We will reserve the results of the investigation.”

The alleged victim of the crime arrived at the police station on Sunday to report what a source would claim to be “a wild situation, like animals, where there was a lot of violence.”

According to French publication MDZ, the incident happened: “In the early hours of Sunday, they moved to the Diplomatic hotel.”

The law firm representing the victim told MDZ, “There is a lot of genetic evidence.” This evidence and the victim’s insistence on the matter, caused the authorities to act with such haste, adding that the accused needed to be intercepted before they reached the Uruguayan border.

One of the players in question, Oscar Jegou was banned for a month just last year for cocaine usage.

“He [Jegou] is very affected by the situation, he is well aware that he made a mistake, he knows it,” said Mathieu Giudicelli, the general director of the players’ union at the time.

There has been no further news yet as to whether or not France will be able to fulfil their fixture against Uruguay tomorrow evening.