Samoan rugby player Kelly Meafua dies after fall from French bridge

French rugby club US Montauban confirmed the 32-year-old back-row forward had not survived the fall into the river Tarn in the early hours of Saturday morning, despite the efforts of a teammate to save him. In “Today we have lost a player, a friend, a brother,” it added of the former Samoan Sevens star. Jean-Baptiste Fourcade, a spokesman for US Montauban, told CNN on Monday that the Montauban prosecutor has opened an investigation into Meafua’s death, adding that officials are looking at it as a “tragedy” and not “a bad ending to a party.” According to the Guardian, Meafu moved to New Zealand as a teenager. He enjoyed stints with the Otahuhu under-21s and Auckland Sevens, before moving to Sydney to play for West Harbour and the Greater Sydney Rams. After moving to France in 2015, the Guardian reported, Meafu played for French second-division teams Béziers and Narbonne.