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Benetton suspend player, federal prosecutor opens Traore race case

(Photo by Federugby/Getty Images)

The racism storm surrounding Benetton Rugby was elevated to a legal matter on Thursday when the Federation of Italian Rugby confirmed that a federal prosecutor had opened an investigation into the Cherif Traore incident, adding that the URC club had suspended an unnamed player.

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Benetton have been widely criticised in the wake of the racism incident that became public on Wednesday when Test-level prop Traore posted to his Instagram the revelation that he had been gifted a banana during his club’s secret Santa presentation.

Apologies were made to Traore after the club summoned the Benetton squad to a meeting and while the player attempted to draw a line under the controversy when later posting a follow-up message on Instagram, the reaction of the club has been hugely criticised by high-profile players such England vice-captain Ellis Genge who called them out over their lenient reaction.

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URC, the five-nation, 16-team league that Benetton play in, issued a statement on Thursday explaining they wanted a full report from the club on what had happened, but the racism incident took on greater urgency later in the day when the Italian federation confirmed that a legal investigation had been launched and that Benetton had suspended an unnamed player.

A statement read: “The Italian Rugby Federation and Benetton Rugby, in the aftermath of the affair involving some of the members of the club, wish to reiterate their firm condemnation of all forms of racism and discrimination which have not and must not have any place in the within the Italian rugby movement, sport and civil society.

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“The FIR informs that the federal prosecutor has launched the investigations necessary to ascertain the facts, as well as the collective and individual responsibilities, to protect the founding values and reputation of the game. Benetton Rugby have simultaneously decided to suspend one of its members as a precaution, for the entire duration of the investigations by the public prosecutor’s office.

“It will be the exclusive competence of the federal justice bodies, based on the results of the investigations, to impose any sporting or administrative sanctions, in total autonomy and without the interference of any kind by bodies external to the FIR justice.

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“FIR and Benetton Rugby, having also heard the favourable opinion of Zebre Parma, have also agreed to jointly deepen the process of raising awareness and awareness of inclusion issues for their athletes. The Italian Rugby Federation and Benetton Rugby will not release further comments until the conclusion of the investigations by the federal prosecutor.”

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AM 38 minutes ago
'Freelancer' Izaia Perese shows the need for true inclusivity in Australian rugby

That's Cron's job though. Australia has had one of the most penalised scrums in international rugby for a long time. Just look at the scrum win loss percentage and scrum penalties. That is your evidence. AA has been the starter during that period. Pretty simple analysis. That Australia has had a poor scrum for a long time is hardly news. If bell and thor are not on the field they are woeful. So you are just plain wrong. They have very little time for the lions so doing the same old things that dont work is not going to get them there.


Ainsley is better than our next best tighthead options and has been playing well at scrum time for Lyon in the most competitive comp in the world. Superstar player? No. But better than the next best options. So that is a good enough guide. The scrummaging in the Prem is pretty good too so there is Sio's proof. Same analysis for him. Certainly better in both cases than Super, where the brumbies had the worst win loss and scrum pen in Super. Who plays there? Ohh yes... And the level of scrummaging in Super is well below the URC, prem and France with the SA teams out.


Nongorr is truly woeful. He's 130kg and gets shoved about. That just should not be happening at that weight for a specialist prop who has always played rugby cf pone with leauge. He has had enough time to develop at 23. You'd be better off with Pone who is at least good around the field for the moment and sending Nongorr on exchange to France or England to see if they can improve him with better coaching as happened with Skelton and Meafou. He isn't going to develop in time in super if he has it at all.


Latu is a better scrummaging hooker than BPA and Nasser. and he's the best aussie player over the ball at ruck time. McReight's super jackling percentage hasnt converted to international level but latu consistently does it at heniken level, which is similar to test level in the big games. With good coaching at La Rochelle he's much improved though still has the odd shocker. He should start the November games.

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