Exeter and Wales prop Craig Mitchell must pay nearly £2,000 in compensation after knocking out a man in an Australian hotel bar while celebrating last week's British and Irish Lions win.
Mitchell, 27, who has 15 caps for Wales, had travelled to Australia to watch the Lions Tour when the fight broke out on Sunday at the Normanby Hotel in Brisbane following the tourists' first Test win against the host country.
He was given a six-month prison sentence suspended for two years and fined £1,180 over the attack. He was also ordered to pay £1,966 in compensation to lawyer Cian Barry.
'Unacceptable': Welsh rugby star Craig Mitchell
leaves Brisbane Magistrates' Court where he was handed a six-month
suspended jail term for punching a man while celebrating last week's
British and Irish Lions win
'Unforgivable actions': Mitchell attacked lawyer
Cian Barry (right) when he tried to smooth over an altercation between
his friends and Lions supporters in a bar following the tourists' first
win against the host country
But after the case, Barry said Mitchell should have been jailed and said the apology meant nothing.
'He comes running in from 10 metres away on the side and smashes me off my feet,' Barry said. 'It was horrendous. It was unprovoked violence, everyone's had enough of it.'
The court was told Barry had been trying to smooth over an altercation between his friends and a group of Lions supporters.
Guilty: The prop (pictured outside court and in action for Wales) has also been fined £1,180 over the attack
On the field: Mitchell (centre) representing
Wales during a friendly match against England in August 2011. He has 15
caps for his country
'It has to deter other Australians from this sort of behaviour at football matches,' she said.
Mitchell's lawyer John Cook said he could not say what implications it would have for his client's playing career, but he had received his passport back and was free to leave the country.
'We're in a position now where he wants to head off, he's had a night in the watch house, he had very little sleep and was obviously very anxious because a term of imprisonment (was possible),' he said.
Mitchell, who admitted aggravated assault occasioning bodily harm, spent a night in custody ahead of his sentencing after he expressed reservations about paying compensation at short notice.
The prop joined Exeter from the Ospreys on an initial two-year contract in 2011 and signed a one-year extension to his deal with the Aviva Premiership club last season.
Exeter and the Welsh Rugby Union declined to comment on the matter when contacted by Press Association Sport.
