More Kiwi players cop doping bans

NEWS: Since December 2018, more than ten New Zealand club rugby players have been suspended for doping offences.

The latest three club players, who have been banned from rugby following New Zealand Rugby Judicial Committee hearings into anti-doping charges brought by Drug Free Sport New Zealand (DFSNZ), is certainly alarming figured for the rugby nation.

The charges were brought against Glen Beadle (Otago), Carlos Rimene (Wairarapa Bush) and Curtis Rountree (North Harbour) following a MedSafe investigation into the operations of the website NZ Clenbuterol in 2014 and 2015, and are the latest in a multitude of resulting cases across sports codes.

Beadle was suspended for two years after admitting two violations of the Sports Anti-Doping Rules (possession and attempted use of a prohibited substance) relating to online purchases of Clenbuterol in 2014.

Rimene was suspended for the same period after admitting to possessing a prohibited substance after an online purchase of Clenbuterol also in 2014.

Their suspensions were backdated by 12 months to October 26, 2017, to take account of the delay in proceedings and their timely admissions.

Curtis Rountree was alleged to have purchased Clenbuterol through the NZ Clenbuterol website in 2015. Rountree currently lives in Australia and did not take part in the proceedings against him.

The sanction for these violations was doubled on January 1, 2015, and subsequently Rountree received a four-year suspension for the two violations (possession and attempted use of a prohibited substance), which was backdated six months to start on August 21, 2018, on account of the delays in proceedings.