An independent disciplinary has upheld a citing resulting from a referral to the independent citing commissioner by the France U20 team management regarding alleged racist verbal abuse directed at one of their players by Spain’s player Mateo Aragón during the World Rugby Junior World Championship Pool D match in Kutaisi on 2 July.
The citing was reviewed by an independent disciplinary committee chaired by Jenifer Donovan (Ireland), joined by former player Victoria Irwin (England) and former referee Juan Pablo Spirandelli (Argentina).
There is no place in rugby or society for discrimination, abuse or hate speech, and any complaint of discrimination is taken extremely seriously by World Rugby and its disciplinary personnel.
Having thoroughly examined match footage and audio and having considered all the available evidence, including witness statements by a number of members of the French and Spanish teams, the panel determined that the player had not proven on the balance of probabilities that the citing should be overturned.
With respect to sanctioning, the independent committee imposed a mid-range entry point of 12 matches. Having considered a variety of factors including the racial element of the offending, the committee decided not to award full mitigation resulting in a final sanction of seven matches. The player's fixture list to be confirmed.
Under World Rugby Regulation 17, the player has 48 hours from receipt of the written decision to appeal the decision of the disciplinary committee.
While noting that emotions understandably run high when such complaints are brought, World Rugby urges the rugby family to be respectful of all individuals involved, particularly via the forum of social media.
A full written decision will be available in due course.