French star given one-year jail term
FRANCE prop Mohamed Haouas has been handed a one-year jail sentence for domestic abuse.
The BBC reports that the 29-year-old front-rower is set to launch an appeal, and therefore remains free in the meantime.
He was arrested on Friday for hitting his wife in public after seeing her smoking. He said she had told him she had quit.
Haouas is reported to have told the court: “She has the right to smoke but the problem is that she lied to me.
“I said to myself that if she can lie about the cigarette, she could lie about other things.”
The 16-cap Les Bleus international was dealt a four-week ban in March for headbutting Scotland’s Ben White in the Six Nations.
That came three years after a sending-off for punching Scotland’s Jamie Ritchie in 2020.
The Montpellier forward had been due to join Clermont next season on a three-month contract, but the French club has released a statement saying he will not be playing for them.
A club statement said: “By his behavior Mohamed Haouas puts himself in total opposition with our identity... he will not be able to wear, on the ground, the colours of our club.”
■ World Rugby chief executive Alan Gilpin says tournament organisers are “well prepared” to deal with any protests or threats at the World Cup in France. More than 600,000 international visitors - a World Cup record and 50 per cent more than for Japan 2019 are expected to attend the event in September and October.
Ticket sales currently stand at almost 2.5million as the biggest Rugby World Cup tournament in its 36-year history prepares to take centre stage. Protests across France over pension reforms earlier this month saw almost 300 people arrested and more than 100 police officers injured.
Football’s European governing body UEFA, meanwhile, brought in new measures for fans attending finals in the wake of last season’s Champions League fiasco.
And Just Stop Oil protestors invaded the pitch during Saturday’s Gallagher Premiership final at Twickenham, throwing orange paint powder on to the field.
The World Cup kicks off at the Stade de France on September 8 with a blockbuster opener between France and New Zealand, launching a 48-match schedule involving 20 countries.
“Like every major event, we are planning all the time for such a wide range of different scenarios, and protests of any nature are certainly part of that,” said Gilpin. “Of course, it is an area of challenging concern, but it is an area we are planning for.”