The 28-year-old was born in Guinea and has lived in Italy since he was seven.

"Apart from calling the gesture offensive, what hurt me most and seeing most of my mates present laughing," Traore wrote on Instagram.

"As if everything is normal.

"I'm used to it, or better, I've had to get used to it, having to make a good face on a bad game whenever I hear racist jokes in order to try not to hate the people close to me.

"Yesterday was different though."

The club insists that it has "always condemned with the utmost firmness any expression of racism and/or form of discrimination."

"They are not part of our culture and do not represent our identity and values," a statement from the club read. 

"We have always demonstrated this with deeds, not just words, and we will continue to strongly support it.

"Such behaviour has nothing to do with sport and in the face of such incidents Benetton Rugby will always be on the side of respect for people, their culture, their ethnicity, their faith and their dignity."

As a result, the United Rugby Championship side says it has suspended a player while the Italian Rugby Federation (FIR) has launched a full investigation into the incident.

The FIR has enlisted a federal prosecutor for the case to "protect the founding values and reputation of the game."

Traore, who has 16 Italy caps, has decided to forgive the offender following a meeting at the training ground with players and staff.

"The meeting was an opportunity to discuss and understand how what one of my team-mates did when exchanging Christmas presents is purely the result of idiocy and nothing other," he said.

"I appreciate and accept his apology and that of the entire team.

"I'm happy with the gesture and I'm sure what happened will make the group even more solid.

"We are a family and as such we will continue to commit ourselves on and off the pitch, fighting, as we always have, against all forms of discrimination."