Former Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom to appeal French court’s two-year prison sentence

Former Wallabies captain Rocky Elsom will appeal a judgment by a French court which sentenced him to two years in prison for misusing corporate assets while president and majority shareholder of rugby club Narbonne.

The 42-year-old, who did not appear in court on Friday, was acquitted on charges of forgery and use of forgery, but was ordered to pay €230,000 ($397,000) in compensation to the club’s liquidator and fined €100,000 with half the sum suspended.

Rocky Elsom has been sentenced to two years in jail in France.Credit: Getty Images

Elsom, who had been sentenced in October to a five-year term when he was tried in absentia, has steadfastly denied any wrongdoing. His lawyer, Yann Le Bras, said he would contest Friday’s outcome.

“I submitted to the court both serious procedural problems allowing the court to cancel the conviction and the arrest warrant,” he said in a statement.

“In my pleadings, I also developed arguments that would allow Rocky Elsom to be acquitted. The validation of the proceedings, the acquittal of fraud, forgery and embezzlement resulted in the considerable reduction in damages, however the verdict remains unsatisfactory.

“An appeal has therefore been lodged against today’s judgment.”

Elsom, who played 75 times for Australia, has been the subject of a European arrest warrant since last year’s judgment and a French warrant was issued for his arrest on Friday.

This masthead revealed last November that he had fled Ireland, where he had been coaching at a school, amid concern he would be extradited to France.

He was shocked prosecutors had gained an exemption from having to notify him of his trial and feared being locked up while he fought a case he argued had no merit.

“Not informing me, not allowing me to be there, running a rumour campaign for eight years ... the most concerning thing is thinking that it was intentional ... that it was intentionally done to make things harder for me,” he said at the time.

“The important thing to remember is if I am in custody, my defence gets a lot more expensive and a lot harder. If I’m detained, I’ll need to engage a lawyer to do everything for me ... all the phone conversations, to try and find documents, to talk to people, to try and defend myself.”

According to documents obtained by this masthead, the case against him included “anomalies” in relation to player payments and allegations he had “indirectly benefited” from $149,480, or about €100,000, sent to Elke Elbow, an Australian company trust registered in his name, in 2016.

But Elsom contested the court’s findings, maintaining the player wages were legitimate and that he had used the Australian company to hire Australian-based support staff such as a strength and conditioning coach and analysts on a part-time basis, in an arrangement he said was approved by the board.

The retired flanker was president of southern French club Narbonne from 2015-16 and has said he left the club in a healthy financial position. The club, which won the French Championship twice in 1936 and 1979 and finished runner-up three times, was relegated and placed into liquidation in 2018 and now competes in the third-tier Federale league.

“[Narbonne] achieved solid profits, had good sporting results, and remained in Pro D2 [the second tier of French rugby] until 2016 and beyond,” he said in a statement in October. “It seems that I have been targeted as a scapegoat for the future mismanagement of this famous rugby club.”

Relations between Elsom and local backers of Narbonne had deteriorated after he pushed back against selling the club to a Qatari investor he believed was not who he said he was.

with AP