Mathieu Bastareaud has confessed that he once tried to take his own life.

The France international, who has made the admission in his autobiography, revealed that in 2009 he struggled to cope with criticism of his performances on the internet.

He started to drink heavily and became depressed, which led him to attempt to commit suicide with a knife.

"I don't know if I really wanted to die. I wanted to suffer. Suffer to punish myself," the centre wrote.

"When you hear everywhere all day long that you are just a loser, that you don't deserve to be there - you try to keep a cool attitude, but you begin to believe what people say. I smiled in public but, as soon as I came back home, I was alone."

The 26-year-old goes on to add that he was found by friends unconscious on his kitchen floor, before he was saved by the emergency services.

With the help of a psychologist, the Toulon player has recovered and is expected to be named in the French squad for this year's World Cup.