Four international rugby players have been banned for anti-doping violations in 2018.
World Rugby has published the outcomes from its 2018 anti-doping programme, which has resulted in three four-year sanctions and one 14-month ban.
The 2018 programme conducted 2,236 tests at men’s and women’s sevens and 15s international representative level, with 66% of those tests coming out of competition.
This testing is in addition to the extensive programmes operated by regional and national anti-doping organisations.
USA men's sevens player Kisi Keomaka Unufe, who has competed on the circuit for over five years, received the 14-month ban after testing positive for heptaminol at the Sevens World Cup in San Francisco last year.
Unufe took a thermogenic supplement that did not specify on its label that it contained heptaminol.
South Africa women's sevens player Unathi Mali received a four-year ban after testing positive for stanozol and methandienone at the Hong Kong sevens in April 2018.
She competed at the Commonwealth Games for South Africa days after the Hong Kong sevens and contested that the violation was caused by her drinking contaminated water at her gym.
Jamaican men's sevens player Joshua Christie also tested positive for a banned substance at the Hong Kong Sevens in April.
The steroid drostanolone was found in his system. He didn't contest the finding and was banned for four years.
Emre Bender, who represented Turkey under-18s in a sevens tournament in Hungary, received a four-year ban after testing positive for testosterone following a sample collection in September.
Bender contested he had been given a pill be a former coach to take, without knowing that the pill could be a banned substance.
World Rugby remains committed to cleaning up the sport, with 'Keep Rugby Clean' education being delivered to 1500 players at World Rugby events last year.
A further 3,318 players and support staff completed mandatory e-learning modules on anti-doping.
World Rugby Anti-Doping General Manager Mike Earl said: "Our programme continues to evolve, but preventing doping is much more than just about testing. To be effective, we need to support players, develop positive values, and understand doping motivations whether intentional or accidental. A good programme not only makes it difficult to cheat, it develops players that don’t consider cheating to be part of their values.
"Our programme, which features two-thirds of tests taken out of competition, haematological and steroidal biological passports, storage and targeted additional analysis, reflects our commitment to utilising all available tools for effective testing and analysis in this important area. "
We take our role very seriously and strive to ensure that players at all levels of the game are encouraged and supported as clean athletes, and that information and education are provided for athletes, parents and other stakeholders.
“Rugby World Cup 2019, like previous Rugby World Cups, will provide such a strong opportunity to get our message out there and Keep Rugby Clean.”
