Argentina rugby captain Pablo Matera has been stripped of the captaincy and suspended over “discriminatory and xenophobic” tweets.
Just over two weeks after the flanker led the pumas to their first win over the All Blacks, the Argentina Rugby Union on Tuesday “revoked” his captaincy and suspended him along with fellow players Guido Petti and Santiago Socino.
“The Argentina Rugby Union forcefully rejects the discriminatory and xenophobic comments published by members of the Pumas squad on social media,” a statement read, after offensive tweets dating from 2011-2013 came to light.
In his tweets, since deleted, Matera spoke of “running over blacks” with his car and disparaged Bolivians and Paraguayans.
The team said that although the posts were old and did “not represent the personal integrity that the three have shown during their current period with the Pumas”, action had to be taken.
“The Argentina Rugby Union condemns any instance of hate speech and considers it unacceptable that anyone expressing those views would represent our country,” the statement said.
Matera led Argentina to a famous win over New Zealand during the Tri-Nations series in Australia but the three players will now be suspended for the final match of the tournament against Australia in Sydney on Saturday.
Matera said: “Today I have to take (responsibility) for what I said nine years ago. I am very ashamed.
“Apologies to all those who were offended by the atrocities I wrote. At that moment I did not imagine who I was going to become.
“I’m also sorry to my team and my family for the moment they are going through … and thanks to the people who love me for their support.”