Exeter Chiefs have issued an official statement addressing the reported racist abuse at Sandy Park in the aftermath of their victory over Gloucester.
The dramatic 25-24 win against the Cherry & Whites was secured by Henry Slade, who scored the decisive final kick of the game.
The club said in a statement: “In light of recent accusations regarding an incident of racist abuse at Sandy Park following the conclusion of our victory over Gloucester Rugby in the Gallagher Premiership, Exeter Rugby Club will be launching a full investigation.
“This behaviour will not be tolerated at our Rugby Club, and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms.
“Our team will begin to review CCTV footage from the stadium immediately in an attempt to identify the individual in question and we would like to extend our sincerest apologies to Ugo Monye, a member of the rugby community that is highly respected by everyone at our club.
“If anyone has any information regarding this incident we would ask you to get in touch with the Chiefs as soon as you can.”
“Beyond a joke” – Nigel Owens calls for major changes to rugby
Popular former referee Nigel Owens has called for major changes to way games are officiated following what was a divisive Rugby World Cup.
The Welshman, who was writing in his column for Wales Online, believes there are a number of areas that need addressing after taking time to think about what went down in France.
Dump the bunker:
Owens wrote: “During the Rugby World Cup, I made no secret of my thoughts on the new TMO bunker. While it certainly showed how it can help to speed up games, it hardly reduced controversies or improved decision-making during the tournament and, in my opinion, ended up being used too much when the decisions should have been made by the on-field referees.
“At the moment, it feels like the TMO is refereeing matches and that is not a road that rugby should be going down. While technology has its place in the game, how it is used currently needs to change.”
Scrap the drop-out:
Owens wrote: “It was hoped that they would improve player safety by reducing the number of pick-and-gos and encourage teams to spread the ball along the back line rather than bulldoze their way over to score.
But if you look at games now, teams are still picking and going and they’re still bulldozing their way over the line. If anything, it rewards negative play as the defender can just chuck themselves under the ball and hold it up.”