Three more New Zealanders hit with hefty doping bans as crackdown continues
An investigation initiated by MedSafe into the operation of the website Clenbuterol New Zealand has meant that three more New Zealand rugby players have been banned for doping.
The charges were brought by Drug Free Sport New Zealand (DFSNZ) with a New Zealand Rugby Judicial Committee handing out two-year bans from playing rugby to Brandyn Laursen, Tukiterangi Raimona and Lionel Skipwith following anti-doping hearings.
In January two former New Zealand representatives are among four players suspended for doping offences.
Laursen (pictured above) who has played in the Heartland Championship, said he had used the Clenbuterol to help with weight-loss during the off-season with the Judicial Committee accepting that “the violations were not intentional”.
In a statement it said that “Although the offences were committed in 2014 and 2015, he was only notified by Drug Free Sport NZ of the offending in March 2018. He immediately admitted the doping violations.”
“The delay in notification plus his early admission entitled him to a discount on his sanction. He was banned from two years, backdated to 4 June 2017.”
Raimona, who had previously received education from DFSNZ, stopped playing rugby in June 2014 due to injury. He was found to have been “in possession, used or attempted to use the banned anabolic agent dianabol (metandienone) in January and February 2015” and was told about the DFSNZ allegation in late 2017.
In his defence the player “thought he was no longer bound by the Sports Anti-doping Regulations as he was not a registered player and at that time had no intention of returning to play rugby”
Raimona admitted taking dianabol, but it was to “help him better cope with the demands of the manual work and gym routine he had at the time.”
But Raimona played a sevens match in late February 2015, followed by a full return to the game a month later.
In a statement it said “the Committee accepted his submission regarding unintentional offending but found that because he ultimately returned to play rugby later that year, the Sports Anti-doping Regulations applied to him retrospectively. The Committee suspended him for two years, backdated to 28 May 2017.”
Skipwith meanwhile said he was unaware that Clenbuterol was banned, citing that he was a club player and hadn’t had any anti-doping education.
In its findings the Committee said it “accepted his explanation that he took the substance in early 2015 as part of a fat burning and weight loss regime that he came across from his friends at the local fitness centre. The Committee found his breach of the regulations was unintentional, and he was suspended for two years backdated to 26th September 2017.”
Continue reading below…
The three latest bans bring the total number of rugby players sanctioned by the DFSNZ this year to seven, as part of the investigation into website Clenbuterol New Zealand.
It identified a number of athletes from a range of sporting codes as making purchases from the website in 2014 and 2015.
In January there were four-year suspensions for two players who played representative rugby for New Zealand.
Zoe Berry played one Test for the Black Ferns against England in 2012, and Glen Robertson turned out for the New Zealand Under-20 side in 2010 and 2011 and is a former member of the New Zealand Sevens squad.
The two others, Ben Qauqau-Dodds and Rhys Pedersen, both played at senior club level and received lighter punishments.
Qauqau-Dodds is listed as the grandson of a former Fiji representative, while Pedersen was voted the “best and fairest” club player in Manawatu province last year.
Qauqau-Dodds received a two-year ban and Pedersen was suspended for 21 months.
Speaking in January New Zealand Rugby general manager Neil Sorensen said “What this investigation has revealed is that there is a lot of ignorance in our community game on the issue of performance-enhancing drugs,”
“What has happened to these four rugby players serves as a reminder that all athletes have to be very careful about what they put into their bodies.”
Berry, Pedersen, and Robertson were accused of possessing and in some cases the use or attempted use of Clenbuterol, a stimulant. Qauqau-Dodds was charged with possession and use or attempted use of anabolic steroid Metandienone.
They all pleaded guilty to at least one of the alleged offences.
Comments on RugbyPass
To me TJ is clearly the best 9 in the competition right now but he's also a proven player off the bench, there's few playmaking players who can come off the bench as calm and settled as he is, Beauden can, TJ can and I doubt any of the scrumhalves in contention can, if they want to experiment with new 9s I want him on the bench ready to step in if they crumble under the pressure. The Boks put their best front row on the bench, I'd like to see us take a similar approach, the Hurricanes have been doing similar things with players like Kirifi.
26 Go to commentsROG has better chance to win a WC if he starts training and make himself eligible as a player. He won’t make the Ireland squad but I reckon he may get close with Namibia (needs to improve his Afrikaans) or Portugal. Both sides had 1000:1 odds to win the RWC in 2023 which is an improvement on ROG’s odds of winning a RWC as a coach. Unlike Top 14 teams, national teams can’t go shopping and buy the best players - you work with the available talent pool and turn them into world beaters.
2 Go to commentsthat backline nope that backline is terrible why would you have sevu Reece when he’s not even top 5 wingers in the comp why have Blackadder when there’s better players no Scott barret isn’t an automatic the guy is more of a liability than anything why have him there when you have samipeni who’s far far better
26 Go to commentsAh, good to find you Nick. Agree with everything about Cale. So much to like about his game
48 Go to commentsNot too bad. Questions at 6, lock and HB for me. The ABs will be a lot stronger once Jordan and Roigard return. Also, work needs to be made to secure Frizzell back for next season and maybe also Mo’unga; they’re just wasting time playing in japan
26 Go to commentsOn the title, i wonder for many of those people it is a case something like a belief in working smarter, not harder?
1 Go to commentsForget Sotutu. One of those whose top level is Super Rugby. Id take a punt on Wallace Sititi Finau ahead of Glass body Blackadder.
26 Go to commentsI’m a pensioner so I've been around a bit. My opinion of SBW is he is an elite athlete and a great New Zealander and roll model. He has been to the top and knows what he's talking about. To all the negative comments regarding SBW the typical New Zealand way, cut that tall poppy down.
17 Go to commentsI'm not listening to a guy moralise over others when this is the guy who walked out mid season on Canterbury RLFC when he had a contract with them, what a hypocrite. Those praising him are a joke.
17 Go to commentsI’d put Finau at 6 instead of Blackadder but that’s the only change I’d make. Can’t wait to see who Razor picks.
26 Go to commentsTamati Williams, Codie Taylor, and Same Cane? Not sure about Hoskins Sotutu at test level. Wasn’t that impressive last season. Need a balance between experience and talent/youth.
26 Go to commentsInteresting insight. Fantastic athlete, and a genuine human being.
17 Go to commentsThey played at night in Suva last weekend and it’s an afternoon game forecast for 19 degrees in Canberra this weekend. Heat change is a non issue.
1 Go to commentsWishing Rosie a speedy recovery
1 Go to commentsObscene that SA haven’t been knocking
1 Go to commentsChances of Blackadder being injured seem too high to give him serious consideration. ABs loosie combination finally looked good with 2 committed to tackling and clearing rucks in the centre and Ardie roaming. Hoskins/Ardie together would force one of them into where they don’t excel and don’t get to use their talent, or require a change in tactics. If we continue to evolve last years systems I would take Papali’i and Finau at 6 and 7 (conceding that Blackadder will be injured) and Ardie at 8.
26 Go to commentsArdie’s preferred position 7? Where do they get these writers from? I've no idea where he's playing in Japan, but the previous two seasons he wore the 7 jersey exactly twice.
17 Go to commentsNot good to hear Ulster described as “financially troubled”. Did not think it was getting to that level. I would hope the Irish system of spreading players of talent away from Leinster would kick in now. Better to have a Leinster fringe player with Ulster or Connacht, then getting only a few games a season in Dublin. 10, for example, would seem to be a case for spreading the talent. I would not be at all adverse to a SA man coming in as head coach/DR. Ludeke is worth trying. Certainly got a long and impressive coaching career at this level…..149 games in SR, then Japan, 30 years experience. And Ulster’s ledger of successful SA coaches and players is on the positive side. Is talk of Ruan Pienaar interested in coming back as a coach…..could be a good combination with Ludeke. And Pienaar and family would have no settling in to do, one would judge. He loved life in Ulster when there, by all reports.
1 Go to commentsSome thoughts to consider here, Sam. Thanks
2 Go to commentsI think he is right, SBW is respected in RSA. The guy who never stood up is a worm. Sseems lots of NZ SBW hate, you do the crime do the time.
17 Go to comments