Former Wallaby captain handed prison sentence

NEWS: Former Australia captain Rocky Elsom was handed a two-year prison sentence by a French court on Friday after being found guilty of misusing corporate funds.

The 42-year-old was also fined €100,000 – half of which was suspended – and ordered to pay €240,000 compensation to the liquidator of the Narbonne rugby club where he was president between 2015 and 2016.

Former flanker Elsom, capped 75 times by the Wallabies, was convicted in his absence but was made the subject of an international arrest warrant.

Elsom’s lawyer Yann Le Bras said that he would appeal the sentence.

“I have submitted to the court both serious procedural issues and evidence that would allow Rocky Elsom to be acquitted,” he told AFP.

Prosecutors had demanded a three-year prison sentence and a €630,000 fine after facing trial for the second time.

He had initially been handed a five-year sentence last year but was retried on appeal.

French champions in 1936 and 1979, Narbonne were placed in receivership and relegated in 2018, after years of financial difficulties.

“He was found guilty of squandering the club’s funds and ordered to pay a substantial sum in compensation for his losses,” Patrick Tabet, the club’s liquidation lawyer, told AFP.

Elsom told Australian media last year that he had been “scapegoated” for mismanagement of the club after he left, claiming Narbonne were successful on and off the field during his tenure.