It's one of the stranger stories to come out in any walk of life for a while. Johnny Sexton's Racing Metro teammate Alexandre Dumoulin has revealed that his father is Marc Cécillon, an ex-France international. Cécillon was convicted in 2006 for murdering his wife, although he was released in 2011 on parole.
Rising star Dumoulin has revealed the stunning news before the Six Nations, making the brave decision to have control over the news rather than have tabloids break it.
Cécillon is a former French captain, and was the French number 8 in the 1991 and 1995 World Cups. He won 46 international caps, but descended into depression on his retirement leading to alcohol problems. This lead to an incident where he shot his wife in front of a crowd of 60 people at a party in 2004. He received a longer than the sought after sentence of 20 years in prison, which was reduced to 14 on appeal. He was released in 2011 on parole.
Dumoulin grew up not knowing who he biological father was, learning of his identity when he was 16. This means the 25-year-old only found out after Cécillon was already in prison. He has had no contact with Cécillon at all since becoming aware of the connection.
Dumoulin has shown great promise for Racing, and was called up ahead of promising youngster Gael Fickou for the Six Nations. Dumoulin might have to wait for his Six Nations bow due to an injury, but today's revelations means he avoids his concerns that "British tabloids" would try to upset him ahead of the England v France clash.
Whatever happens, Dumoulin has made a brave choice revealing this to the world, and can now get on with rugby.
