RUGBY LEAGUE
THE Rugby League World Cup was upset yesterday by a triple drugs
surprise, with the three men in question being kicked out of the
competition after having tested positive, one for anabolic steroids.
South Africa's Pierre Grobbelaar, Syd Eru, of New Zealand, and
France's Stephane Millet all have been suspended.
Grobbelaar, 29, tested positive for the anabolic steroid, nandrolone.
Eru returned a positive sample for pseudoephedrine, and 25-year-old
Millet for cannabis.
Grobbelaar and Millet were tested despite not having played in the
event, while Eru was tested after the Kiwis' opening game against Tonga
on Sunday.
Tournament director Maurice Lindsay said: ''It was made clear at two
International Board meetings that vigorous drug-testing would take place
throughout the competition. It is regrettable that these players have
failed, but we are determined that rugby league must be drug-free.
''We only have the power to suspend them from the competition. It is a
matter for their respective country's governing bodies to consider
further suspension. We will continue to vigorously test every player in
the competition, almost certainly on more than one occasion.''
France manager Tas Baitieri said: ''It's going to cost Stephane Millet
dearly and he's very upset about it because he knows he has ruined his
reputation and brought a stigma to French rugby league and to the World
Cup. He's very apologetic.''
The South African management could not be contacted yesterday for
their reaction, while the New Zealand Rugby League are expected to make
an official statement today.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article