Tue 7 Sep 2021 | 02:00

Racist slur will lead to heavy punishment for former Clermont scrum-half

Former Clermont Auvergne scrum-half Ludovic Radosavljevic has issued a public apology on social media after admitting to racially abusing a black player last weekend.

The incident occurred during a match between Provence - for whom Radosavljevic plays - and Nevers, with the latter team's Christian Ambadiang the recipient of the racist insult.

Radosavljevic, who started his professional career at Provence before spending the bulk of his time with Clermont and subsequently joining Castres in 2017, was alleged to have called Ambadiang a "banana eater" while also saying "I will burn you".

The French Rugby Federation and the Ligue National de Rugby announced on Monday that they would be launching an inquiry and disciplinary investigation into the incident.

After the match, Cameroonian winger Ambadiang said on his own social media channels that it was "crazy" and "utterly unacceptable" that racist incidents such as this had been "swept under the carpet" by the rugby community and called for a stronger stance on racism within the game.

The incident attracted a strong reaction from the wider rugby community, most notably from former England winger Ugo Monye on Twitter as well as Munster's Simon Zebo.

Radosavljevic posted a public apology on Monday, which read: "Following recent events, and after my immediate apologies in the dressing room, I want to publicly and officially present my apologies to Christian Ambadiang for my unacceptable comments [during the match].

"Due to a chain of events in the context of a tight match, my words overtook my thoughts. I understand the gravity of my acts and I take full responsibility and apologise to everyone that was shocked.

"This is neither part of my values nor something I pass down to my kids, I am still a human who makes errors and learns from them."

Provence Rugby has already revealed that it would be taking action on Radosavljevic following what they described as "irreproachable behaviour". The full scale of the punishment Radosavljevic will face will be known in due course.