FRENCH rugby players were "in good spirits and well-behaved" at an Edinburgh nightclub, staff said after the team were delayed from flying home amid sexual assault allegations.
Police Scotlands said no further action would be taken after its investigation into the claim thought to have been made about a late-night incident on Sunday after the match at Murrayfield.
Read more: Jupiter Artland founder named new chair of Creative Scotland
Both the French and Scottish team were in the Tigerlily club, bar and restaurant complex in George Street.
Reports suggested French rugby team members had been questioned as "potential witnesses".
Police said they spoke to a number of team members at Edinburgh Airport and "established that no crime has been committed".
Read more: Jupiter Artland founder named new chair of Creative Scotland
A Police Scotland spokesman said: "Following an initial report of sexual assault in Edinburgh city centre during the early hours of Monday February 12, police conducted various lines of inquiry, including speaking to a number of potential witnesses.
"These inquiries have established that no crime has been committed."
The police report was made following the French team's 32-26 defeat by Scotland in the Six Nations on Sunday.
La FFR confirme que certains joueurs sont entendus par les autorités Écossaises. Nous sommes en attente de plus d'informations.
— FF Rugby (@FFRugby) February 12, 2018
The plane carrying the players was grounded while police inquiries were carried out.
The official Twitter account of FFR, Rugby France, earlier tweeted: "The FFR confirms that some players are being heard by the Scottish authorities."
The chartered Jet2 flight to Paris was due to leave at around 11am but is stuck on the tarmac at Edinburgh Airport.
Read more: Jupiter Artland founder named new chair of Creative Scotland
A spokesman for the airport said: "We have a plane that was due to leave at 11am that has not left yet."
Reports had suggested police became involved after an incident in the Tigerlily bar on Edinburgh's George Street.
Innes Bolt, managing director of Montpeliers, who run Tigerlily and Lulu nightclub in Edinburgh’s George Street, said: “I can confirm that last night the French and Scottish rugby teams enjoyed a night out in both Tigerlily and Lulu - venues that they have visited on a number of occasions after the Six Nations match at Murrayfield.
“The players and staff were all in good spirits and well-behaved.
“I can confirm that there were no reported incidents to our security team and management in either venue during the night, and police have not asked to interview any Montpeliers staff.”
Read more: Jupiter Artland founder named new chair of Creative Scotland
A spokesman for Edinburgh Airport said that a flight was grounded for about two hours.
The flight was due to leave at 11am but did not take off until after 1pm on Monday, the spokesman said.
A spokesman for Scottish Rugby Union declined to comment.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel