Jaminet appeals against long ban

FRANCE international Melvyn Jaminet is to appeal against a 34week suspension and €30,000 fine imposed by the FFR's disciplinary committee for posting a video to social media during the July tour of Argentina and Uruguay in which he made racist comments.

- JAMES HARRINGTON

He was removed from the touring party and sent home within hours of his comments going public, and issued a public apology, which read: "I am deeply sorry and ashamed of my words. I want to apologise to everyone. I understand that this may have hurt and offended many people."

Even so, there were always going to be consequences after the video went viral, for all that his lawyer insisted that, but for an accidental slip of the finger, it wasn't intended for public consumption.

Those consequences were always going to be heavy. They could have been heavier still. But few expected the FFR's disciplinary committee to come down quite so hard, even allowing for the fact Jaminet could reduce it by up to eight weeks if he undertakes some rugby-related community service.

There is, however, a precedent for the scale of the suspension - in September 2021, former Provence scrum-half Ludovic Radosavljevic was suspended for 26 weeks after a racist insult at then-Nevers' winger Christian Ambadiang during a ProD2 match. He was later sacked by the club and then barred from switching codes to join the Avignon rugby league side.

His Top 14 club, Toulon, have also launched disciplinary proceedings. We have yet to hear if they too will sanction himthough a public statement pending any decision spoke of 'support' and 'redemption', which suggests that there are no immediate plans to sack a player they only recruited in November.