The Saracens rugby player who was involved in a late-night incident with England captain Ben Stokes and pacer Gus Atkinson is believed to a 21-year-old Samoan Totoa Auvaa.
Auvaa, who is 6ft 5in and weighs 125kg hasn’t played for Saracens’s first team yet, but according to reports emerging from UK, was part of a party. According to The Times, Auvaa, who part of the academy, is understood to have thrown a punch in the early hours of Monday morning intended for Atkinson, but it ended up hitting a member of ECB’s security staff.
According to the report, Stokes and Atkinson were in the VIP section of the nightclub, hours after England won the first Test against New Zealand at the Lord’s. Around the same time, Saracens players were celebrating their end of the season at the nightclub. According to the Times, Saracens players and a group of England cricketers were together in the White Horse pub in Fulham and then visited at least two other pubs in the area before moving to the one in Chelsea. Although around 6-7 cricketers were out enjoying the evening, only Stokes and Atkinson stayed back beyond the mid-night curfew imposed on England team since the allegations of late-night drinking emerged during the Australia tour.
Since the incident was made public by the ECB, they have maintained that neither Stokes or Atkinson were the aggressors in the incident. However, it is not clear if any further punches were thrown after Auvaa landed the first blow.
With the incident once again exposing the alleged drinking culture in England set-up, there are indications that Stokes could step down as captain or ECB could stand him down. While a confirmation on it expected later, Stokes and Atkinson are expected to miss the second Test with Harry Brook set to the captain. Brook, himself, was at the centre of a drinking incident at the start of the Ashes tour, which came out only after the series was over.
