Oyonnax, a Pro D2 club, has terminated the contracts of Rory Grice and Chris Farrell, convicted in December respectively for gang rape and for having witnessed the events without having intervened, the Ain Rugby club announced on Thursday.
“After learning of the criminal convictions handed down against the two players, the members of the Council unanimously took the decision to terminate the contracts of Rory Grice and Chris Farrell,” said the club press release.
Rory Grice, a 34-year-old New Zealand third row, was sentenced on December 13 by the Gironde Assize Court to 12 years in prison for having raped a young woman in 2017 in Bordeaux, after a very alcoholic evening which followed a Grenoble match in the Top 14.
Two other former Grenoble players, the Irishman Denis Coulson, now retired, and the Frenchman Loïck Jammes, who plays in Aix-en-Provence in Pro D2, were sentenced to 14 years in prison.
-The Irishman Chris Farrell (31 years old) and the New Zealander Dylan Hayes (30 years old, retired), were sentenced to four years in prison, two of which were suspended, for having witnessed all or part of the events without intervening. Grice, who appealed the decision, arrived in Oyonnax in 2017.
Farrell, who did not appeal, had signed for Ain in 2023 after a stint in Munster. Loïck Jammes, who also appealed, has played for the Provence Rugby club since 2019. He had played in Carcassonne before. Provence Rugby had announced that it “reserves the right to make additional decisions” against its hooker, while ensuring that it “obviously respects the possibility of appeal”.
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