Two French XV players accused of sexual violence and arrested in Argentina

Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou are the subject of a complaint and were arrested on Monday.

The French XV’s South American tour is going badly. After the broadcast of a racist video of Melvyn Jaminet, followed by his exclusion from the French team, a new affair is shaking up the Blues. Oscar Jegou and Hugo Auradou are the subject of a complaint for sexual violence and were arrested by the police in Argentina on Monday. “There is an investigation underway. We don’t have all the details yet since we just arrived in Buenos Aires with Jean-Marc Lhermet [le vice-président de la Fédération française de rugby]“, confirmed the president of the FFR Florian Grill to several journalists, including AFP, on Tuesday July 9.

“If the facts are proven, they are incredibly serious. We must have a thought for the young woman. It is the opposite of everything that rugby is, everything that rugby does, everything that rugby builds (…) but we must let the investigation, which is necessary, take place, he added. Rugby is anecdotal, everything else is secondary. The sequence is dramatic.”

According to the Argentine media Mendoza Postthe events allegedly took place on the night of Saturday to Sunday, at the Diplomatic Hotel in Mendoza, where players and staff were staying during the first test match against the Pumas of Argentina. The two players incriminated had both participated in the match.

The prosecutor requested the immediate arrest of the suspects, who are in Buenos Aires for the continuation of the summer tour: they have been transferred to Mendoza. “We are in contact with the authorities. We are trying to support everyone. We have also notified the French authorities because this is a potentially very important matter,” Florian Grill, quoted in The Team, stating that he should go to the police station where the players are. The Minister of Sports, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, communicated on X (ex-Twitter) her support for the victim and affirmed that she was “in connection with the federation and our embassy on site“.

Fabien Galthié’s Les Bleus are due to leave for Montevideo on Tuesday, where they will face Uruguay in a friendly match on Wednesday. The French XV will return to Buenos Aires to challenge Argentina again on Saturday.