Pallade Veneta - Argentine court hears bid to end rape case against French rugby players

Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, both aged 21, were held for nearly two months in Argentina in connection with the alleged attack on a 39-year-old woman in Mendoza after winning their match against the Pumas.

They deny the charges, saying the sex was consensual.

Prosecutors last month recommended that the charges of aggravated rape -- a charge used for suspected gang rape -- be dropped.

Lawyers for the pair and their accuser did not speak to the press when they arrived at the hearing, an AFP reporter said.

The proceedings are expected to last several hours, with the judge expected to make her decision known in a few days, lawyers for both sides said.

The players' defence counsel German Hnatow said he was confident his clients would be cleared.

The complainant's lawyer Natacha Romano accused the prosecution of bias.

One of the players' lawyers is the brother of Argentina's justice minister.

- 'Excesses' -

Auradou, a lock with Pau, and Jegou, a flanker with La Rochelle, were arrested two days after winning their first international caps for France against Argentina in Mendoza, about 1,000 kilometers (620 miles) west of Argentina's capital Buenos Aires.

The woman, whom they met in a nightclub on the night of their July 6 match against Argentina, alleged they assaulted her viciously in the hotel room.

The players were kept in preventive custody for a little over a week and then under house arrest for nearly a month before being allowed to return to France after prosecutors said the case against them had weakened.

A psychological assessment of the woman ordered by the prosecution showed "a series of inconsistencies and contradictions" in her testimony and concluded that her version of events was "not plausible."

The accusations against the player coupled with racist remarks by full-back Melvyn Jaminet on the same night in July, for which he was sent home from the tour and received a 34-week suspension, overshadowed the French team's summer tour of Argentina.

French rugby federation president Florian Grill last month announced an overhaul of disciplinary measures in the wake of the scandals and also vowed to put an end to "the fourth and fifth half" post-match celebrations that had preceded both cases.

Grill admitted that there had been in the past a "form of acceptance of these excesses which could sometimes even be organized."

Auradou and Jego have returned to their Top 14 rugby union club teams.

Auradou was whistled off the pitch during his first match on his return, which Pau lost 11-10 to Perpignan.

F.Abruzzese--PV