A Scots rugby player who pleaded to domestic violence against his girlfriend after a traumatic 20-month ordeal is facing dismissal from his club. She is shown in a new photo as a result of his guilty plea.
Rufus McLean, a 22-year-old rugby union player for the Glasgow Warriors and Scotland, used tracking devices to monitor Cara Haston’s phone and requested the passwords to her social media sites.
The 13-stone player acknowledged throwing his victim off him during one episode, leaving her with a ruptured lip and a black eye. In addition, the court heard that he sent her offensive texts and messages on social media and called her a b***h and s***.
‘Rufus McLean is suspended from all club activity and is ineligible for selection following a guilty plea to charges under the Domestic Abuse (Scotland) Act 2018 in December 2022,’ according to a statement from Glasgow Warriors.
‘Glasgow Warriors does not condone abuse of any kind and therefore, along with Scottish Rugby, immediately suspended the player following his plea.
‘An internal investigation has been instigated and a disciplinary hearing will be held this week.’
No more comments will be made at this time, the club continued, because the legal proceedings in this subject are still ongoing.
McLean appeared at Edinburgh Sheriff Court yesterday for sentencing, which was postponed for a month. He made his senior Scotland debut in October 2021 against Tonga.
He admitted this month to acting in a pattern that was “emotionally abusive and domineering” from April 2019 until January 2021.
The court previously heard an agreed-upon account of how McLean and his girlfriend were together ‘fully’ for two years between April 2019 and May 2021 after having a “on/off” relationship for four years.
McLean, who stands 5 feet 10 inches tall and is from Glasgow, was labelled “emotionally aggressive and domineering” by Cara, a Northumbria University student.
She was reportedly on vacation in Spain in the summer of 2019 when McLean ‘took offence’ to what she was wearing when he spotted a picture of her on social media.
McLean texted his girlfriend to tell her that she looked like a “s***” and to change, but she resisted and left.
Then, he allegedly began using offensive language in his texts to her and her friends.