France prop Haouas given jail sentence for hitting wife

Haouas was sent off in his only Six Nations appearance for France for headbutting and banned for the rest of the tournament

France prop Mohamed Haouas has been sentenced to one year in jail for domestic abuse.

The incident is likely to end any hopes Montpellier's Haouas had of being picked for September's World Cup, taking place in France.

Haouas will launch an appeal and therefore remains free in the meantime, or could wear an electronic tag.

On hitting his wife in public, the 29-year-old told the court: "She has the right to smoke but the problem is that she lied to me.

"I said to myself that if she can lie about the cigarette, she could lie about other things."

The France international, who has 16 caps, was banned in March for four weeks after headbutting Scotland's Ben White in the Six Nations.

It was his second sending-off against Scotland in three years, after he punched Jamie Ritchie in 2020.

This is not Haouas' first brush with the law, having been handed an 18-month suspended sentence in 2022 for his role in a series of burglaries in 2014.

• Subscribe to the Rugby Union Weekly podcast