France hooker leaves Top 14 club after reportedly arriving drunk after Xmas party

France hooker Camille Chat has left Racing 92 by mutual consent after reportedly turning up to training drunk, the French Top 14 club announced on Tuesday.

In December the 33-time international was temporarily suspended after he arrived at the team’s training complex inebriated after a players’ Christmas party.

The 29-year-old departs Racing having played 166 games since making his debut in 2015, the same season in which the club won the Top 14 title. Chat still had more than two years to run on his Racing contract.

“Racing 92 and Camille Chat have decided, by mutual consent, to end the contract between them,” the six-time French champions said. “Racing 92 wish Camille Chat the best for the remainder of his career.”

Chat joined Racing as a teenager and played in three Champions Cup finals. He made his test debut in 2016 but last featured for his country in 2021.

“The 12 years spent at Racing 92 were more than a career,” Chat wrote on his Instagram account. “They were a personal and sporting adventure without comparison.”

At test level, Chat’s 33 appearances for the French national side saw him score two tries, and was part of Les Bleus’ squad for the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.

Another Racing hooker, Janick Tarrit, was also suspended following last month’s Christmas party, for failing to turn up to training.

According to Midi Olympique, Chat was reportedly in “a state supposedly unfit for playing rugby” after the evening out with Tarrit, a claim that the player fiercely denies but the incident is not the first that has angered the Racing 92 bigwigs.

In 2023, the hooker “accidentally” injured Fijian winger Vinaya Habosi during a Racing 92 training camp in Spain. Habosi will also leave Racing at the end of the current season, after he was arrested for a domestic abuse claim.

Tarrit returned to the team last weekend. Racing, coached by former England boss Stuart Lancaster, are struggling in the Top 14 this season and sit ninth in the table.

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission