The French Rugby Federation (FFR) and the French league (LNR) said on Monday they will launch a joint disciplinary investigation after a Cameroonian player was racially abused playing in the second-tier ProD2 at the weekend.

Nevers’ Cameroonian winger Christian Ambadiang said he had been called a “banana eater” by an opposition player during Friday’s loss at Aix-en-Provence.

Earlier on Monday, the hosts’ scrum-half Ludovic Radosavljevic, who spent 12 years in the Top 14 with Clermont and Castres, apologised for using the terminology.

Ambadiang, 22, who is in his second season in ProD2, France’s tier below the Top 14, after joining from Western Province’s academy in South Africa, received support from across the rugby world.