IRELAND rugby union international Chris Farrell from Fivemiletown has been stood down with immediate effect by Munster amid a legal case in France.
The Bordeaux Court of Appeal in France confirmed last week the centre, who has made 15 appearances for Ireland, had been charged with the alleged non-prevention of crime in the Grenoble rugby club rape case.
French media outlets 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”.
None of the five players are still at Grenoble. Farrell played for the French Top 14 side from 2014-2017.
Farrell featured in Ireland’s 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 Munster statement said the 29-year-old would not be involved with the club while “legal proceedings concerning his alleged involvement as a witness to an alleged crime in 2017, are ongoing”.
“Munster Rugby and Chris Farrell, pictured below, have agreed that, with immediate effect, he will be stepping back from his involvement with the Munster squad,” the statement read.
“As this is an active legal matter before the French courts, we have no further comment.”
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