A RUGBY FAN went out looking for a fight in the centre of York after his country was beaten by England in a vital World Cup match, the city's crown court heard.

Andrew Semple, prosecuting, said Gideon Charl Roodt, 23, went looking for a fight after watching his native South Africa play England in the top Rugby Union tournament in 2003. He had been drinking heavily.

In St Martin's Lane, he picked a quarrel with Christopher St John Jones, and attacked him. When Mr Jones's brother, Simon, intervened, he knocked him out by hitting his head with a stone.

Later at York Youth Hostel, where he was staying, Roodt launched a violent assault on Dutchman Thijs Hujsson.

The Honorary Recorder of York, Judge Paul Hoffman, jailed him for 18 months - on top of three months he was already serving for skipping bail - and recommended that he be deported at the end of his sentence.

He said: "We have enough drunken louts of our own without needing to import them from abroad".

Roodt, no fixed address in the UK, pleaded guilty to causing actual bodily harm and two charges of assault.

Glenn Parsons, for Roodt, said his client had spent the day drinking and had also taken cocaine.

Updated: 09:12 Saturday, August 28, 2004