FRANCE CENTRE Mathieu Bastareaud faces disciplinary sanctions after he admitted to lying when he claimed he had been attacked after a defeat by New Zealand, the French Rugby Federation (FFR) said yesterday.

Bastareaud had said he had been attacked by up to five people as he returned to the team hotel early last Sunday following a 14-10 loss to New Zealand in Wellington.

Pierre Camou, president of the French Rugby Federation (FFR), wishes to apologise to the people of New Zealand and to the New Zealand Federation, the FFR said in a statement. He (Camou) has asked the (FFR) disciplinary committee to open an inquiry.

CCTV footage from the hotel where the 20-year-old Bastareaud was staying showed him walking in uninjured at 5.22am local time, the French daily LEquipes website reported yesterday.

I just talked to Mathieu. He came back to his hotel under the influence of alcohol, he stumbled and fell, his club Stade Francais president Max Guazzini said. In the morning, he got scared of the consequences it could have with the teams management.

New Zealand rugby officials issued an apology to Bastareaud and the French team while New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said he hoped the attack would not put people off travelling to the country.

Bastareaud apologised yesterday, saying: “On Saturday night, I came back to the hotel after having too much to drink. I fell in my room and hit the bedside table and opened up my cheek.

“I was ashamed, I panicked and I thought I was going to be thrown out of the French national team. I told this story thinking it would all blow over, but seeing the magnitude it’s taken I prefer to tell the truth.”

JULIEN DUPUY has left Leicester for Stade Français but the Tigers will welcome back scrumhalf James Grindal from Newcastle for the new season.

Dupuy played a key part in the club’s Premiership and Heineken Cup campaigns last season but said he wanted to return to France for personal reasons.