Chiliboy banned for doping

FILE-In this Saturday, July 17, 2010 file picture South Africa's Chiliboy Ralepelle look dejected after their team's loss to New Zealand during the Tri Nations rugby match, Westpac Stadium, Wellington, New Zealand. South Africa rugby players Chiliboy Ralepelle and Bjorn Basson have been suspended after failing doping tests following the international against Ireland.(AP Photo/NZPA, Wayne Drought) **NEW ZEALAND OUT**

FILE-In this Saturday, July 17, 2010 file picture South Africa's Chiliboy Ralepelle look dejected after their team's loss to New Zealand during the Tri Nations rugby match, Westpac Stadium, Wellington, New Zealand. South Africa rugby players Chiliboy Ralepelle and Bjorn Basson have been suspended after failing doping tests following the international against Ireland.(AP Photo/NZPA, Wayne Drought) **NEW ZEALAND OUT**

Published Sep 7, 2015

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South African rugby player Mahlatse “Chiliboy” Ralepelle has been banned for two years from all forms of competition after testing positive for an anabolic steroid, drostanolone.

World Rugby, formerly known as the International Rugby Board, announced his two-year ban at the weekend.

However, World Rugby media spokesman James Fitzgerald today confirmed the player, who usually plays hooker, will be eligible to play again from April 10 next year because the ban has been back-dated to the date of the offence in 2014.

“Ralepelle initially put up a strong defence and threatened to take the matter all the way to the international Court of Arbitration for Sport and this resulted in delaying the hearing. Then, he decided to end his defence and allowed the process to go ahead. This is what brought about the back-dated banning,” Fitzgerald said.

Ralepelle, who had been playing for French club Toulouse at the time of the offence, has not been selected for the South African squad to contest the 2015 Rugby World Cup in England.

He has been recovering from a serious knee injury.

He was released by Toulouse at the beginning of this year and is back in South Africa.

But Ralepelle might get back into rugby even before April 10 next year, because the rules allow a banned player to either return to training during the last two months of his period of ineligibility, or the last quarter of the period of ineligibility imposed.

The 28-year-old underwent an out-of-competition doping control on March 19, 2014, while recovering from an operation on an anterior cruciate ligament following a knee injury sustained while playing for Toulouse against Biarritz in France the month before.

The analysis of the sample returned a positive test for a metabolite which appears in Section S1.1a Anabolic Androgenic Steroids in the 2014 list of prohibited substances published by the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada).

“Following the positive test, the player was provisionally suspended and through his legal representatives requested additional time to conduct confidential enquiries in order to prepare his defence,” World Rugby said.

“At the conclusion of those enquiries, an independent World Rugby Judicial Committee chaired by Christopher Quinlan QC (England) sat on June 2 of this year and heard all of the evidence in the case.

“In considering all aspects of the case, the committee found the player to have committed an anti-doping rule violation.

“The committee imposed a two-year suspension, the standard sanction in the circumstances... This suspension is taken as starting from the point of provisional suspension following the positive test and the player will be free to participate again on April 10, 2016.”

World Rugby CEO Brett Gosper said: “World Rugby operates a zero-tolerance policy on doping and players are responsible for any

prohibited substance found in their body.

'Two blood samples are taken when a sportsperson is tested for illegal substances that could enhance performance. One is marked the A sample and the second the B sample. This is done to allow for a retest in

case of doubt.

“After the first positive test, Ralepelle demanded, as was his right, to have his B-sample tested. During the process, the phial of the

B-Sample was broken, but testers said sufficient amounts of the sample could be recovered for accurate testing, which proved positive.”

This is not the first time Ralepelle has had problems with banned substances. But the first time, he was found not guilty.

On November 15, 2010, while touring Britain with the Springbok squad, Ralepelle (along with winger Bjorn Basson) was suspended and sent back to South Africa following a positive drugs test.

After an investigation, the South African Rugby Union found both players innocent and apologised to them. Both players had been given a dietary supplement called Anabolic Nitro Nitric Oxide Extreme Energy Surge by team officials. - Cape Argus

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