French rugby players accused of rape in Argentina set off for Paris as closely watched case drags on

BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — Two French rugby players are heading back to France nearly two months after their arrest in the South American nation on charges of aggravated sexual assault. The French national team players, Hugo Auradou and Oscar Jegou, arrived at the Buenos Aires International Airport on Tuesday ahead of their midnight flight back to Paris. An Argentine court in the western city of Mendoza, where the alleged assault took place in early July, authorized the 21-year-old athletes to return home even as their trial grinds on. The plaintiff’s grisly allegations against the players have transfixed the professional rugby world and highlighted what critics call a toxic male culture in elite sports. The athletes deny the allegations.