A senior Kelt Capital Magpies rugby player has been charged with assaulting teammate Matt Berquist.
The incident happened after the players' girlfriends had a fight in a Napier bar. The unnamed player and his girlfriend face charges and will appear in the Napier District Court on May 30.
Police say the dispute seemed to have started when the woman approached Mr Berquist about 2am on Sunday at the Thirsty Whale on Ahuriri's West Quay, where the players went after their club matches the previous day.
Her alleged insults sparked the intervention of a second woman and, according to one source, there was "a bit of hair-pulling" and at least one person was ordered out of the bar. But there was a replay a few hours later when the player and his partner went to Mr Berquist's home in Onekawa, and Mr Berquist was punched in the eye as he intervened in a resumption of the dispute between the women.
Sergeant Mal Lochrie said Napier police were continuing investigations into the bar incidents, having since received a complaint that the arrested woman had been assaulted.
Chief executive Mike Bishop of the Hawkes Bay Rugby Union said the "matter is in the hands of the police and the union will be holding a full internal investigation into the incident".
