Catalans Dragons player Israel Folau sparked fresh controversy at the weekend after deciding not to take a knee in support of the Black Lives Matter movement.
The 31-year-old former Wallaby was the only player from the Dragons and St Helens not to make the gesture in support of the movement ahead of the Super League clash at Headingley.
Folau was sacked by Rugby Australia in 2019 for making homophobic comments on social media and Dragons head coach Steve McNamara has defended Folau’s latest decision.
"As a group of players and coaching staff, we spoke about it in depth and as a club we are completely against racism and all for equal opportunity," he said.
"But there were some players and staff who made the decision not to take the knee. That was based on personal choice, they have their own reasons for doing that, and we decided we would respect anyone's personal choice on the matter."
The incident has split opinion among rugby fans around the world.