A RUGBY player was knocked unconscious in a drunken attack by a woman and her partner outside a town centre pub.

Blaenavon RFC player Casey Roomus, who was part of the Monmouthshire squad last season, was so badly injured outside Abergavenny’s Auberge he couldn’t play for four weeks and lost out appearance fees and earnings worth £1,720, a court was told.

Cardiff Crown Court heard that the player had been arguing with Jade Watson, 26, and her partner Scott Whitney, 24, inside the pub, before the row spilled onto the street outside.

The mother-of-one made a derogatory comment about the victim’s partner before she and Whitney launched a “vicious assault’ that left Mr Roomus unconscious on the ground covered in blood with two black eyes, a wound to the back of his head and a cut lip, said prosecutor Nigel Fryer.

Watson and Whitney, of St David’s Road, Abergavenny, both received suspended jail terms after admitting assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Mr Fryer told the court Mr Roomus had been told by door staff to leave the Auberge shortly after midnight because he had drunk too much, but was described by witnesses as a “happy drunk”.

A fight began outside with Whitney after the victim allegedly made comments about Watson.

The prosecutor said a witness saw Mr Roomus pulled to the floor, with the couple standing over and “assaulting him repeatedly” with punches and kicks.

The player’s head was stamped on while he lay on the ground, and he had “blood and bruising all over his face”.

Mr Roomus had heard Watson shout a derogatory comment about his partner before he felt a punch on the back of his head, said the prosecutor.

He was then punched up to six times on the floor, and stamped on two or three times.

After passing out, he came to on a park bench and was later taken to the Grange Hospital in Cwmbran for a CT scan.

Watson told police there had been an “escalation” over the course of the evening.

Whitney, a construction worker, admitted the charge on the basis that he had not kicked or stamped on the victim, while Watson pleaded guilty on the grounds that she was wearing sandals, not stilettos.

Darren Bishop, for Whitney, said he had “drunk to excess” but had displayed “genuine remorse”.

Julia Cox, for Watson, said she was a single mother who wanted to “return to being a positive role model for her child”.

Recorder Richard Booth QC described the attack as a “vicious assault” fuelled by drink against a “very drunk” Mr Roomus.

Watson was jailed for eight months suspended for 18 months, and will have to obey an electronically tagged curfew between 8pm and 5am for 16 weeks.

She was also given a 15-day rehabilitation activity requirement and ordered to pay court penalties of £574.

Whitney was jailed for six months suspended for 18 months and must do 180 hours of unpaid work and pay court penalties totalling £548.