France duo facing sexual assault charges in Argentina

Prosecutors in Argentina have revealed that France players Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou have been charged with the aggravated rape of a woman after their recent Test against Los Pumas.

20-year-old lock Auradou and Jegou, who is a 21-year-old flanker, are facing charges of raping a woman after Les Bleus clinched a 28-13 victory over Argentina in Mendoza last weekend.

Serious allegations

The 39-year-old woman alleges that Auradou and Jegou raped her repeatedly and beat her in a hotel room in Mendoza.

Les Bleus are currently in Buenos Aires for the second Test against Los Pumas but the forward duo were arrested earlier in the week and returned to Mendoza.

Auradou and Jegou, who opted “not to testify” at a hearing in Mendoza, have denied the rape allegations and said they had consensual sex with their accuser.

The woman alleges that her assault took place at the Diplomatic Hotel in Mendoza where Les Bleus were staying as part of their South American tour which also included a match against Uruguay in Montevideo on Wednesday that the visitors won 43-28.

Natacha Romano, the lawyer representing the woman, said her client left a nightclub with one of the players and went with him to the hotel room, where one of the duo raped her “at least six times” while she was also raped once by the other.

Romano told AFP her client said “fierce” violence took place and that she sustained injuries to her face, back, breasts, legs and ribs while there were also bite and scratch marks on her body.

Les Bleus tour in turmoil after duo arrested for alleged sexual assault

The woman also alleges that she tried to escape numerous times as she was held against her will for several hours.

Romano said her client went to a hospital on Thursday after feeling emotionally and physically unwell due to the incident and she is currently receiving treatment at a health facility.

Meanwhile, German Hnatow, a lawyer representing the French players, said his clients stood by their version of events.

“They are well and sure of their version, they are calm because they know they are innocent, but of course they are worried about this whole situation that they have had to live through,” Hnatow told reporters.

Earlier in the week another lawyer said consensual “sexual relations” had taken place.

‘No injuries are seen in the footage’

“There are witnesses who saw her leave [the hotel]. There are cameras that saw her leave. Apparently no injuries are seen in the footage,” Mariano Cuneo Libarona told journalists.

French Rugby Federation president Florian Gill, who is in Argentina, also told AFP that Auradou and Jegou gave “quite a different version of events”.

“We are not judges. We are not investigators. But we think that the Argentine justice system should look at the case very quickly,” he said.

READ MORE: Posolo Tuilagi channels his inner Jonah Lomu in STUNNING 50-metre solo try