French prop sentenced

French prop Mohamed Haouas has been handed a one-year jail sentence for striking his wife, after he saw her smoking a cigarette. The 29-year-old, who has played 16 tests for France, told a court he lost control after she’d told him she had given up the habit. ‘‘She has the right to smoke . . . but the problem is that she lied to me

. . . and I said to myself that if she can lie about the cigarette, she could lie about other things,’’ he told the court in Montpellier. While Haouas was sentenced to prison, the court did not follow the recommendations of the prosecution, who had called for him to face 18 months in prison. Instead, Haouas will remain free while he launches an appeal, or he could wear an electronic tag. The 123kg prop, who has previously been sentenced to an 18-month suspended sentence for armed robbery, has two children with his wife.