NZ players detained for rape

Grice, France's Loick Jammes and Ireland's Denis Coulson were detained yesterday after a 21-year-old woman said she had been drugged, taken to a hotel and raped after a French Top 14 game between Bordeaux and Grenoble this month.

Grice is a former Waikato and All Black Sevens player.

"The detention has been lifted," Bordeaux prosecutor Marie Madeleine Alliot said in a statement.

"The investigation will continue in the coming days."

None of the three players have been formally charged.

The six players are all with France's Grenoble club. French media reports said the New Zealanders were former Sevens and Waikato player Rory Grice and former Marlbrough player Dylan Hayes.

Grenoble newspaper Le Dauphine Libere said it had spoken to Grice's layer, Philip Fitzgerald, who said Grice was "anxious to answer police questions about the case". He reminded the newspaper to remember the presumption of innocence.

Mr Fitzgerald said Grice remained in custody.

Hayes had left the police station, according to this lawyer, the newspaper said.