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'This is disgusting' - Rugby reacts as a police called in to investigate racist abuse directed at Ashton Hewitt

Nigel Owens (Photo by Mark Kolbe/Getty Images)

The rugby community has come out to roundly condemn racist abuse directed at Dragons wing Ashton Hewitt, who has asked for help to track down the person or persons behind a fake account that has been directing vitriol in his direction.

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Hewitt, who has been at the forefront of championing the anti-racism movement in the sport, was tagged by an account that presented itself using racist imagery and words, following the Dragons defeat to Scarlets in the PRO14.

Hewitt responded to the Tweet, asking Twitter to help track him down the person responsible: “This is what a Rugby fan somewhere (in Wales I think) wants me to see after a game.

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Goodbye to 2020:

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Goodbye to 2020:

“Pleaaase someone find out and tell me who it is.”

Hewitt received windfall of support from the rugby community on Twitter, who roundly condemned the behaviour.

“This is disgusting,” wrote Nigel Owens. “Stay strong mate and hope they find this person and he is dealt with and name and shamed too. Some of these idiots like this one on social media should be banned for life from it.”

Dragons hooker Richard Hibbard wrote: “It is wrong on so many ****ing levels, about time you need Identification to sign up to social media, and be accountable to the awful things you say and do!
Ashton Hewitt should never have to put up with awful shit like this!”

South Wales Police have asked Hewitt to report the matter: “Hi Ashton. We’ve been made aware of your tweet, and we’re very sorry to hear about this. If you’ve not done so already, please don’t hesitate to contact police and we can discuss. Take care.”

“This is disgusting!,” wrote Scarlets player Marc Jones. “What plonker would go out of their way to create this. Stay strong and hopefully the person gets a good roughing up by the guards.”

Hewitt’s former head coach at Dragons, Bernard Jackman wrote: “So sorry [Ashton Hewitt] that you have to face this nonsense. Twitter can you help trace the owner of this account and get the police involved ?”

The matter has now been reported by Dragons Rugby to the police. The region issued the following statement: “Dragons Rugby is disgusted and appalled at an abhorrent racist post on social media yesterday evening targeting Ashton Hewitt.

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“Dragons finds all forms of discriminatory behaviour totally unacceptable and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms.

“The individual who expressed these views does not represent the values of our game. We thank supporters who have also condemned this post on social media and shown their support for Ashton.

“Dragons take all reports of hate crime extremely seriously. Such behaviour has no place online, in our stadium, in our community or in our game.

“As a region, Dragons Rugby celebrates equality, diversity, respect and inclusion, we firmly stand behind Ashton and continue to fully support his outstanding efforts when trying to eradicate racial prejudice wherever it exists. This is a constant battle for Ashton and the region recognises how difficult the past few months have been for him.”

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AM 42 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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