The Irish community in Bordeaux is "deeply shocked" after the alleged gang rape of an Irish woman who was in the city for the Rugby World Cup.

It emerged yesterday that a 37-year-old Irish woman attending the Rugby World Cup has told police she was abducted and raped by three men on Sunday night.

Ireland played its opening Rugby World Cup fixture against Romania in the city on Saturday, with over 30,000 international fans flooding the city over the weekend.

The woman was brought to hospital for treatment.

Reports say the alleged attack happened on Rue du Puits Descazaux, near where the woman was staying.

The attack

On Newstalk Breakfast, the Irish Daily Star Assistant News Editor, Keith Falkiner said the woman had attended the game.

"The night after the game, she was abducted by three men … then she was dragged down a side street and gang raped by all three men," he said.

"A group of Welsh rugby fans who initially found her, I think they were alerted to her screams, and they found her and she was obviously very traumatised."

Mr Falkiner said the woman was initially too traumatised to make an official police report.

"She was brought back to her holiday accommodation to where her friends were," he said. "As I say, it's quite a disturbing case."

IRFU

Last night, the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) said it was 'shocked' at the news.

"The IRFU is aware of the disturbing news emanating from Bordeaux regarding an incident involving an Irish supporter at the weekend," it said in a statement.

Mr Falkiner said the Irish community in the region is also "deeply shocked" by the incident.

"There's a number of Irish bars around the area, and they said they had had a brilliant weekend and they're just deeply shocked that something like this could happen," he said.

An Garda Siochána

Members of the Gardaí are present in the region to support the French police and have assisted them in supporting the young woman.

"Nobody expects a case as bad as this, but that's the reason the Gardaí are over there, to liaise with Irish fans if anybody did get into any bother or any trouble," Mr Falkiner said.

"They've even taken a statement from her but they're keen to stress that French authorities are investigating this.

"They're trawling through CCTV for the moment and interviewing other people that may have been in the vicinity at the time."