24 Jun 2009

Basteraud amazed at media fuss

6:51 am on 24 June 2009

The French rugby centre Mathieu Bastareaud has expressed his amazement at the media coverage of his assault in Wellington after last weekend's second test against the All Blacks.

In a statement released by his club Stade Francais on his return home, 20 year old Basteraud says he was astonished by the number of journalists waiting at the airport in Paris, because what happened to him in Wellington was an everyday occurrence which could happen to anybody.

New Zealand police are investigating the attack on Basteraud involving four or five men as he was returning to the team's hotel, and they believe the attack was recorded by the assailants on a mobile phone.