The England captain Courtney Lawes has called on rugby’s authorities to out the racists in the game, after his former team-mate Luther Burrell described the abuse he has suffered.
Burrell, 32, told The Mail on Sunday last week that racism was “rife” and had been “normalised” in rugby, that he had been called the n-word and referred to as a “slave” by team-mates.
The interview prompted an investigation at one of his former clubs, Newcastle Falcons, while the RFU and Premiership Rugby reached out to the former cross-code center to apologise, on behalf of the sport.
Lawes, 33, played with Burrell for seven years at Northampton Saints, who have been “reassured” that the racist abuse did not happen at the club, and was stunned