UK Anti-Doping plan to approach Interpol, Europol and the police over allegations of doping in French rugby.
As Toulon were named in relation to a preliminary investigation into pharmacists in the city, the UKAD chief executive, Nicole Sapstead, said that if it concerned any player involved in the upcoming World Cup it would urgently look into the matter. “We have sufficient links and excellent links with Interpol, Europol and the police where we can start to ask for that kind of information. If there was any player we felt was pulled into that issue, we would be looking into it,” she told a parliamentary select committee hearing.
“We will be engaging with World Rugby to decide about a testing programme, for sure. It’s one of the most comprehensive testing programmes the tournament has seen so far. They’re doing some extensive pre-competition testing.”
The French anti-doping agency contacted the state prosecutor in Marseille during May over suspicions pharmacists in Toulon, home of the three-time European champions, could have been illegally supplying the club with substances including antibiotics, painkillers and anabolic steroids, the radio station RTL reported.
At a press conference, Toulon’s president, Mourad Boudjellal, dismissed outright any allegation of the club acquiring banned drugs, saying Toulon “is not affected by this doping affair”. He said the inquiry was not into the club but into “a health-service scam in which a pharmacist who used to work with the club a long time ago is implicated”.
“There is no doping at this club,” he said, adding that his team face stringent controls. He said he “firmly believed” someone was out to get the club in order to damage their head coach, Bernard Laporte, who is in the running to head the French Rugby Federation. “There are people who might have an interest in sullying us,” Boudjellal said.
Four players from Toulon have been selected for the France World Cup squad – Guilhem Guirado, Sébastien Tillous-Borde, Frédéric Michalak and Mathieu Bastareaud – although there is no suggestion that any of them are connected with the investigation. When UKAD last week released details of a sanction for a Welsh rugby union player who tested positive for a banned substance contained in a contaminated supplement, it took the number of players sanctioned in the sport since the agency was formed in 2009 to 35.
Sapstead said all of its evidence suggested the problem existed at youth and amateur level rather than in the professional game. “From our statistics and our evidence, when it comes to rugby union there is no evidence of a problem at an elite level,” she said. “The problem is at lower levels among younger players, that is where we are seeing abuse of steroids.”
Sapstead stressed the importance of pre-competition tests in uncovering any doping issues. “The last thing any huge tournament like this wants is a doping scandal,” she said.
