Bastareaud treated after suicide attempt - report

Mathieu Bastareaud admitted he lied about a Wellington assault. Photo / Mark Mitchell

PARIS - The Mathieu Bastareaud affair took a macabre new twist today as the boss of his club revealed the player had been admitted to hospital suffering from "serious psychological problems," while a press report said he had tried to kill himself.

"He is completely wiped out," Max Guazzini, president of the Paris club Stade Francais, told the French news agency AFP.

The well-informed sports daily L'Equipe, quoting what it described as "several sources close to the player," said Bastareaud had tried to commit suicide.

Last week, Guazzini had said Bastareaud - in disgrace for falsely saying he had been attacked by thugs during les Bleus' stopover in Wellington - was heading for the French West Indies for a holiday.

Today, though, he said Bastareaud had been placed in specialised facility in the Paris region, whose location was secret. He was likely to be there under observation for at least two weeks.

Guazzini lashed the press for what he called "harassment of a 20-year-old boy."

"Journalists even went to his home and his parents' home. He is completely wiped out, he has to be left alone," he said.

The AFP report did not say when Bastareaud had been admitted, or what his symptoms or the treatment were.

It came as the French Rugby Federation (FFR) was weighing how to punish the young centre for his lies.

After the Wellington police amassed evidence that he had sustained his facial injuries after returning to his hotel in the early hours of June 21, Bastareaud said that he had drunk too much and fallen over, hitting his head on a bedside table.

He said he had invented the story about the attack because he was terrified of being kicked out of the French team and of having to face the anger of his family.

Some French media reports, though, have suggested he was whacked by a teammate after they returned to the hotel with a couple of women.

The scandal has continued to make the headlines in France.

"We are going to look like a bunch of liars across the Southern Hemisphere, where the next (Rugby) World Cup is going to be played. It's not very positive for French rugby," former Bleu Philippe Saint-Andre said in an interview with the radio station RMC.

"Mathieu is the one who is being punished the most," said former international Thomas Lombard. "It's sad, for a player who is so young and talented."