Six Nations 2018: France drop nine players from squad to face Italy after incident on night out in Scotland

France coach Jacques Brunel has dropped nine players who went out in Edinburgh city centre after last Sunday’s defeat by Scotland, and stated that they “did not respect their status as international players” by doing so.

The plane due to carry the French team home from Edinburgh Airport was grounded on Monday morning as Police Scotland wanted to question a number of players regarding an incident that occurred in the early hours of Monday morning.

An allegation of sexual assault had been made to the police and an investigation was carried out, with Police Scotland determining that no crime was committed and no action was to be taken against any members of the squad. The flight eventually departed two hours later at around 13:00 on Monday afternoon.

But after announcing his squad that will face Italy in the Six Nations on Friday 23 February, a statement from the French Rugby Federation [FFR] confirmed that Brunel has dropped all players who were found to have been involved on the night out.

Anthony Belleau, Jonathan Danty, Arthur Iturria, Remi Lamerat, Felix Lambey, Alexandre Lapandry, Sekou Macalou, Louis Picamoles and Teddy Thomas have all been dropped from the squad, with eight new faces called up to a 32-man squad.

Mathieu Babillot, Mathieu Bastareaud, Gael Fickou, Kelian Galletier, Remy Grosso, Bernard Le Roux, Romain Taofifenua and Francois Trinh Duc have all been called up to the squad, with Bastareaud returning at the first available opportunity after serving a three-week ban for using homophobic language towards an opponent during a European Champions Cup match last month.

“Jacques Brunel decided to exclude from the squad the players who went out after the defeat in Scotland,” an FFR statement read. “By this inappropriate behaviour, they did not respect their status as an international player and the resulting duties.”

The FFR claimed that reports of the players being involved in a brawl were “false”, although they did not address questions regarding reports of some players appearing to have suffered facial injuries.

Police Scotland said on Monday that "following an initial report of sexual assault in Edinburgh city centre during the early hours of Monday 12 February, police conducted various lines of inquiry, including speaking to a number of potential witnesses.

"These inquiries have established that no crime has been committed."

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France face Italy next Friday looking to pick up their first win of the championship, having suffered a 15-13 defeat by Ireland on the opening weekend and a 32-26 loss at Murrayfield on Sunday to leave them fifth in the table with two losing bonus points. Only Italy are below them in the table, with Conor O’Shea’s side pointless after conceding 15 tries across their opening two defeats by England and Ireland.

The decision to drop Thomas means that there is not one player in the France squad that has scored a try this championship, with the wing netting all three tries for the team in their two matches so far.

Mathieu Babillot, Mathieu Bastareaud, Lionel Beauxis, Eddie Ben Arous, Hugo Bonneval, Yacouba Camara, Camille Chat, Henry Chavancy, Baptiste Couilloud, Geoffrey Doumayrou, Benjamin Fall, Gael Fickou, Paul Gabrillagues, Kelian Galletier, Cedate Gomes Sa, Remy Grosso, Guilhem Guirado, Wenceslas Lauret, Bernard Le Roux, Maxime Machenaud, Geoffrey Palis, Adrien Pelissie, Jefferson Poirot, Dany Priso, Baptiste Serin, Rabah Slimani, Romain Taofifenua, Marco Tauleigne, Francois Trinh-Duc, Sebatien Vahaamahina, Virimi Vakatawa.