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Chris Farrell stood down by Munster over French court case

(Photo by Brendan Moran/Sportsfile via Getty Images)

Ireland midfielder Chris Farrell has been stood down with immediate effect by Munster after the Bordeaux Court of Appeal confirmed on Thursday he had been charged with the alleged non-prevention of crime in the Grenoble rugby club rape case.

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French media outlets have reported that the case against Rory Grice, Loic Jammes and Denis Coulson has been referred to the criminal court following allegations that a young woman was raped following a night out after a Grenoble Top 14 match in Bordeaux in 2017.  

The magistrates also confirmed “the presence of sufficient charges” to charge two other players, the New Zealander Dylan Hayes and Irishman Farrell for “non-prevention of crime”.

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None of the five players are still at Grenoble. Grice and Jammes currently respectively play for Oyonnax and Provence in French Pro D2, Coulson has fallen away from the professional rugby scene while Hayes is at Valence Romans, the Nationale level club. 

Farrell, meanwhile, has gone on to win Ireland honours since his 2017 move to Munster, being capped 15 times and featuring in the 2018 Grand Slam win and at the 2019 World Cup in Japan. He played 59 minutes of Munster’s URC new-season opener at Cardiff last Saturday but now won’t be involved with the Irish province for the foreseeable future. 

A statement released by the club read: “Munster Rugby and Chris Farrell have agreed that, with immediate effect, he will be stepping back from his involvement with the Munster squad whilst legal proceedings in France, concerning his alleged involvement as a witness to an alleged crime in 2017, are on-going. As this is an active legal matter before the French courts, we have no further comment.” 

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Easy_Duzz-it 33 minutes ago
Are the All Blacks doomed to a 70% flatline?

The world never caught up the All Blacks just went backwards . After 2015 they had a plan to build the team around 2 players . Sam Cane and Beauden Barrett , Cane was hailed as the next Mccaw and Barrett the next carter . Unfortunately Cane sustained too many injures and Barrett despite being a great ball runner didn't have a high enough conversion rate or the game management skills to control the team and the game . Then to make matters worst , the selections were so bad year after year the forward pack became shockingly weak .

New Zealand had so much talent wasted betwen 2016 - 2023 . Laumape , elliot dixon , ben tamefuna , pita gus , ben lam , vaea fifita and so many other in form players that never got a look or the time to develop into great All Blacks .


Then you have the dual playmaker system that never worked , but they kept using it . why ? cause some men cant admit when they're wrong . thats the All Blacks between 2016-2023 . wrong coaches with the wrong vision , going in the wrong direction . now it appears the world caught up . but like I said the world never caught up . then you add the obvious flawed referee calls that happen to go against us more often then for us now . the worst of which that never gets called is when the opposition use rush defence but have players offside . this has been going for years , but who cares ? .


anyway its almost 10 and i need to get some shut eye .

Go the might All Blacks !!!!

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LONG READ
LONG READ England need to face a few home truths if they are to relearn that winning habit England need to face a few home truths if they are to relearn that winning habit
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