A major South Wales Argus investigation into racism in rugby has led both the Welsh Rugby Union and the National Assembly for Wales to announce their own probes.

The Argus acted after Newport scrum half Ofisa Tonu’u – a former New Zealand international – was subjected to a string of racist insults from a player during a cup game against minor team Bonymaen.

Initially, both clubs said the incident was being dealt with internally and the WRU refused to become involved.

Neither club would name the player accused of hurling racist obscenities at Tonu’u and while Bonymaen said they had suspended the player, they would not reveal the length of his ban.

An investigation by sports writers Robin Davey and Josh Ball revealed the guilty player as prop forward Nigel Evans and discovered he had been banned by Bonymaen for just 14 days.

And Tonu’u told the Argus in an exclusive interview how he was unhappy the matter was being “swept under the carpet” by the rugby authorities.

After three days of revelations, the WRU announced it was investigating the incident and Newport began an internal investigation that could lead to an official complaint being made against Evans.

The National Assembly’s sports minister Jenny Randerson was due to make a statement on the matter after Newport AM John Griffiths raised the Argus investigation with her.

Meanwhile, Tonu’u reacted to the incident in the best possible way – scoring a hat-trick of tries in his first game after the Bonymaen controversy as Newport thrashed Glasgow 55-5 to go to the top of the Welsh/Scottish League.

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