TOULON PROP Xavier Chiocci has been released from police custody while flanker Steffon Armitage continued to be questioned today over a fight with another man last month, judicial sources said.
Armitage, last season’s European player of the year and capped five times by England, and France international Chiocci were alleged to have struck a 31-year-old man on 13 December in a restaurant where they had spent an evening drinking after Toulon’s 23-8 victory over Leicester in the European Champions Cup.
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According to witnesses, a fight broke out and the two players felled the restaurant goer before striking him, injuring his eye.
Armitage, 29, and the 24-year-old Chiocci told investigators they could remember nothing of what happened. But a judicial source revealed on Thursday that Chiocci was “not implicated” in the incident and had been released by police late last night.
When contacted by AFP, outspoken Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal said that he “had nothing to say for the moment” and was awaiting “more information”.
Toulon said in a statement they would “take, where appropriate, the necessary sanctions to preserve values which are dear” to the team.
Both Armitage and Chiocci have been named in Toulon’s 25-strong squad for Friday’s Top 14 home match against Bayonne.
Police hold Toulon's Steffon Armitage as Xavier Chiocci cleared over fight
TOULON PROP Xavier Chiocci has been released from police custody while flanker Steffon Armitage continued to be questioned today over a fight with another man last month, judicial sources said.
Armitage, last season’s European player of the year and capped five times by England, and France international Chiocci were alleged to have struck a 31-year-old man on 13 December in a restaurant where they had spent an evening drinking after Toulon’s 23-8 victory over Leicester in the European Champions Cup.
According to witnesses, a fight broke out and the two players felled the restaurant goer before striking him, injuring his eye.
Armitage, 29, and the 24-year-old Chiocci told investigators they could remember nothing of what happened. But a judicial source revealed on Thursday that Chiocci was “not implicated” in the incident and had been released by police late last night.
When contacted by AFP, outspoken Toulon president Mourad Boudjellal said that he “had nothing to say for the moment” and was awaiting “more information”.
Toulon said in a statement they would “take, where appropriate, the necessary sanctions to preserve values which are dear” to the team.
Both Armitage and Chiocci have been named in Toulon’s 25-strong squad for Friday’s Top 14 home match against Bayonne.
- © AFP, 2015
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Probe Rugby Steffon Armitage Xavier Chiocci