Former Leinster and Australia international Rocky Elsom has been jailed for two years after a French court on Friday found him guilty of misusing corporate resources during his time in charge of French club Narbonne.
Elsom (42), who worked in Narbonne from 2013 to 2016, was convicted in absentia and an international arrest warrant was issued for him. He was also ordered to pay a fine of €100,000, with half of the amount suspended, according to the Narbonne court ruling.
In February, the state prosecutor asked for three years in prison and a €630,000 fine for Elsom, and his case was retried after an appeal against the original five-year sentence handed down in October 2024. He denied all charges.
At a trial in October 2024, from which he was also absent, Elsom was found guilty of forgery, using false papers and misappropriation of corporate assets.
The document forgery charges were dropped during a 2025 trial, but Elsom was ordered to pay the club's liquidator €219,760 in compensation.
A powerful wide forward, Elsom played 75 Test matches for the Wallabies and captained the team from 2009 until the 2011 Rugby World Cup.
He was named man of the match when he won the Heineken Cup with Leinster in 2009, alongside stars Johnny Sexton and Brian O'Driscoll.
Born in Melbourne, Elsom had lived in Ireland since August 2024 but left the country after an international arrest warrant was issued against him. Elsom denied all wrongdoing and claimed that Narbonne was in good condition under his leadership.
“[The club] showed solid profits, had successful sporting results and remained in Pro D2 [French rugby’s second tier] until 2016 and beyond,” he said in a statement in October. “It seems that I have been chosen as a scapegoat for future problems with the management of this famous rugby club.”
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Narbonne were two-time French rugby champions in 1936 and 1979, and three-time runners-up. The club was dissolved in 2018 and now plays in the third league, the Fédérale.
Elsom, who also played Super Rugby for the Waratahs and Brumbies, was working as a school coach in Dublin at around the time the warrant was issued for his arrest.
Four months ago, in an interview on YouTube, he said that he left immediately, taking only
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