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Four-year ban given to English grassroots player for doping
By Online Editors
A grassroots player in England has been banned for four years by the RFU for failing a drugs test taken earlier in 2019.
Leigh Dearden, registered as a player for Lincoln RFC, has been banned from all sport for four years following an in-competition test on March 23.
He is banned from the date of his provisional suspensions (May 31, 2019) until May 30, 2023.
Dearden provided a urine sample. That sample was analysed and returned adverse analytical findings for Drostanolone and a metabolite, two metabolites of Oxymetholone, and cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine.
All are prohibited substances and included on the 2018 World Anti-Doping Agency prohibited list.
(Continue reading below...)
Dearden was charged with a breach of World Rugby regulation 21.2.1 - ‘Presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolites or markers in an athlete’s sample’.
He didn’t provide any evidence to conclude that anti-doping rule violation was not intentional. Given this, he was handed a four-year ban by the national anti-doping panel.
RFU anti-doping and illicit drugs programme manager Stephen Watkins said: “All rugby players are subject to the anti-doping rules which are in place to protect players and the integrity of our sport.”
To read the full judgement, please click here.
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Latest Comments
They bend the rules for pre-existing All Blacks, provided you've signed for a NZ franchise the following year.
Go to commentsUnder Rassie it is 5 wins for ABs, 1 draw, and 7 wins for the Boks. Of those games, only 3 were played in NZ, and 5 played in SA, and 5 on neutral ground.
Of the 3 played in NZ, the ABs only lost once. Of the games played in SA, SBs are 5-2, and on neutral ground its 3-2 to the Boks.
Seems pretty even to me, considering this is the greatest Boks team ever (I still think 2007 was better).
If Rassie wins, this will be the best Boks team ever, but the ABs aren't scared of a team who barely scrape wins against a reforming ABs team, and lost to an undercooked Irish side twice last year.
I predict a 7+ point win, leading by 13+ at halftime.
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