An Argentine court has dropped aggravated sexual assault charges against two professional French rugby players accused of raping a woman after a match in the country earlier this year.

Two French rugby players are heading back to France nearly two months after their arrest in the South American nation on charges of aggravated sexual assault.

Argentine prosecutors say they would let two French rugby players accused of violently raping a woman to fly home, even as the explosive case remained under investigation.

Argentine prosecutors say they have charged two French rugby players with aggravated sexual assault, the latest development in the case of a woman who said she was repeatedly raped by the athletes after they took her back to their hotel room and prevented her from leaving.

Argentine authorities have transferred two French rugby players under police guard from Buenos Aires to the western city of Mendoza, where they are expected to appear in court on suspicion of aggravated sexual assault.