What about doping in the rugby world?

[igorBastia]

As french I' concerned every year with the "tour de France" . I've assisted on the "champ Elysée" in Paris at the victory of Floyd landis with my super motive son, at this time he was fan of bicycle. Few week later we have learned that this Floyd was doped. Good example of foolishness where big money and passion can lead a sport. We were disappointed.
What about Rugby?
All the players seem the clone from each other. Big, strong, bodybuilding. If you see the final France vs NZ it's look like the same team but one was black and the other white (I would prefer the white won ) But outside all over sterile polemic it's seem very strange how the bigs teams look like the others. France like Wales like AB and so on...sames "gabarit" (need a translator please". Maybe I am too old but in the past it was not like this.
Is it an side effect of the professionalization of the rugby?
May be I'm wrong. If anyone can explain me how the natural selection make a similars animals in the sames biotop?
Darwin explanation?. Answer in a easier and simple English please.

 

[Seaton]

They are all gym monkeys, whom are actually being paid to fulfill their life long dreams.


To spend their lives in gyms and on fields showing off their physical prowess.

Well at least that is my view on things.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

I imagine there are companies out there working on steroids that don't show up on drugs tests, but I don't think you'll find many/any pro-rugby players that take steroids because of the amount of tests they take - and at random, it'd be really hard to do them without getting caught and if they get caught that's their career pretty much over (or at least for a few years)

Like LordHope said, they're people who basically spend all of their in the gym or at training.
The teams have a load of people (nutritionists and strength and conditioning staff) whose job is to ensure the players are in the best shape they can be - it's just that they have the time and tools to train to be that size

 

[nickdnz]

Yeah, pretty well summed up. Before professionalism, many All Blacks were farmers, accountants, rubbishmen etc. Now they are rugby players, who follow very strict training scheduals and diet plans. I genuinely don't think it's a big issue in rugby.

 

[McTallshort]

You can imagine a fringe player who gets an injury and needs to prove himself fit by a certain time to get a contract would risk taking a few substances but an established player has more to lose by taking any banned stuff. I understand at semi pro level it can be a problem particuly during pre season when players "juice up" before the season starts

 

[LittleGuy]

A Canadian player Jeff McKinnon on the BC Bears just got suspended for two years for doping steroids were the main substance.

http://www.tsn.ca/rugby/story/?id=379508

 

[DJones]

There is a big chance that doping is present in the rugby as it basically is a muscle game.
[url=http://www.chitownbootcampsblog.com/chicago-weight-loss]chicago weight loss[/URL]

 

[TRF_heineken]

Oh Doping is real in rugby.

http://www.wada-ama.org/en/News-Center/Articles/South-Africa-launches-I-Play-Fair--Say-NO-To-Doping-at-Super-15-games/

I remember this article in sunday newspapers... Something like 14% of the young players who were at the Craven Week tested positive for substance abuse...

I go to the gym 4 times a week, and there's this body builder at my gym, many people buy supplements from him, as he can get it at discount prices. and you will always see high school boys talking to him, asking him things, and sometimes they will go with him to his car and buy stuff...

Now as dodgy as this sounds, I have no proof to show that they are in fact buying steroids from him, well except that after 4 months they look bigger with veins coming out of their arms.

My brother's friend plays for a university team, and they use something they call in layman's terms "Aqua-roids" and apparently it's a water based substance that is in your system for 7 days. which these guys use during the off-season to bulk up and to get in an anabolic state before matches, to slow down the catabolic rate at which the muscles gets a knock and deteriorates...

If anyone thinks that substance abuse is not in rugby, you are severely mistaken.

 

[smartcooky]

There may well be doping in rugby at lower levels where testing is infrequent or even non-existent, but I cannot see how there would be at elite level, because those players are extensively tested in and out of season. The are tested randomly, and multiple times.


OK, there might be scientists out there coming up with new kinds of steroids that are undetectable, but they have to be made undetectable with a masking agent, and at the end of the day, no matter how fancy the technology is, the contents of a blood sample cannot hide from an Infrared Spectrograph.

If you have masking agents in your blood, even a tiny amount, they're gonna find it.

 

[TRF_heineken]

There may well be doping in rugby at lower levels where testing is infrequent or even non-existent, but I cannot see how there would be at elite level, because those players are extensively tested in and out of season. The are tested randomly, and multiple times.


OK, there might be scientists out there coming up with new kinds of steroids that are undetectable, but they have to be made undetectable with a masking agent, and at the end of the day, no matter how fancy the technology is, the contents of a blood sample cannot hide from an Infrared Spectrograph.

If you have masking agents in your blood, even a tiny amount, they're gonna find it.

Yes true, but from what I've heard from some guys are that when they go play for a university or club when they are out of school, and a scout or someone finds a guy with potential but he's a bit too scrawny or need some more muscle, that guy disappears entirely from the scene for about 2 years. and then comes back a monster... during those 2 years he goes on a doping spree and gets in shape, then he stops with the doping, to ensure it's out of it's system by the time he's back in the mix... Whether this works, I don't know, but it makes sense to me...

 

[Sam Owen]

If you have masking agents in your blood, even a tiny amount, they're gonna find it.

Yep one of the beauties of blood sampling as oppose to urine sampling.

In this years RWC there were systems in place to monitor doping. WADA (the world doping agency that was formed after the Ben Johnson incident and ironically is based in Canada) and DFSNZ were responsible for collecting samples at this years RWC in NZ. So far theres been no issues.

I have heard in Rugby and Soccer circles about some 'boost' drugs that can be sourced from the changing rooms before the game here in NZ. Ive also heard its quite popular in Australia. Theres none in Samoa which is important lol.

 

[ZeFrenchy]

I think heineken's right. There are some players that are just not human-looking, and I really think that in the early years, before they get controls of any kind, there must be "help" in bulking up. Like, right after playing a U-20 cup, when a player is a couple of years away from the next doping test, he juices up and then he goes to the gym to keep that shape, and not really to gain it...

Edit: I erased the player names I had written...

 

[smartcooky]

Yes true, but from what I've heard from some guys are that when they go play for a university or club when they are out of school, and a scout or someone finds a guy with potential but he's a bit too scrawny or need some more muscle, that guy disappears entirely from the scene for about 2 years. and then comes back a monster... during those 2 years he goes on a doping spree and gets in shape, then he stops with the doping, to ensure it's out of it's system by the time he's back in the mix... Whether this works, I don't know, but it makes sense to me...

A very unlikely scenario in a rugby environment. Perhaps that would work for a Track & Field athlete, or someone involved in a solitary sport, such as cycling, but in a field team sport, this would be exceedingly diffcult to hide due to the others who need to be involved.

I think heineken's right. There are some players that are just not human-looking, and I really think that in the early years, before they get controls of any kind, there must be "help" in bulking up. Like, right after playing a U-20 cup, when a player is a couple of years away from the next doping test, he juices up and then he goes to the gym to keep that shape, and not really to gain it...

Edit: I erased the player names I had written...

Our U-20's are dope tested, as are all junior representative grades. I have to assume that yours are too since it is in the regulations..

[TEXTAREA]IRB REGULATION 21: ANTI DOPING
21.13 Responsibility for Doping Control
21.13.1 The Board is responsible for conducting or arranging Doping Controls including, but not limited to, determination of Sample collection, result
management, the conduct of investigations and disciplinary proceedings and the imposition of sanctions for anti-doping rule violations, including
cases where there has been no Doping Control carried out, in respect of:

(a) Rugby World Cup Qualifying and Finals Tournaments;

(b) Rugby World Cup Sevens Qualifying and Finals Tournaments;

(c) IRB Sevens World Series;

(d) Women’s Rugby World Cup Qualifying and Finals Tournaments;

(e) Junior World Championships;

(f) Such other Matches or Tournaments as the Board shall from time to time determine; and

(g) Such other occasions where the Board conducts Out of Competition Doping Controls.
[/TEXTAREA]

Also, our Under 20's don't "disappear" unless its to Rugby League or overseas. They end up in ITM Cup and.or Super Rugby, where they are dope tested regularly.

 

[McTallshort]

"but in a field team sport, this would be exceedingly difficult to hide due to the others who need to be involved."

But thats the point, why would a player hide it when its the norm within the team? As I said before an established player has too much to lose but a junior/semi pro/student has lots to gain and its often worth the risk in your younger years or in pre season to get juiced up. I know of people who flirted with it when they were at uni, they were easy to get hold of and quite common among Rugby players, Weight lifters, cyclists and most track and field athletes. I think we probably need to take a more grown up view regards performance drugs, if a sport is professional and morgages need to be paid. People will do it.

 

[Saintjay]

I have no idea how common it would be in rugby. I would have thought that any sport that involves the gym and has some reliance on strength and power, risks people using controled substances.
Even team sports look at baseball and US football, teams sports that have had doping issues and are reliant on strength and power, well for the hitters anyway.

I would have thought that the doping controls mentioned above help cut down on the top level but again with advances in chemical engineering masking agents etc can be used and it's not just roids when doping is concerned. I can see how that people desperate for the edge and to make the top level might be tempted.