6 Apr 2013

Former player says doping rife in French rugby

10:51 am on 6 April 2013

The former French hooker Laurent Benezech has claimed that people are turning a blind eye to doping in rugby in the same way that was once the norm in cycling.

Benezech says rugby is in exactly the same situation that cycling was before the Festina affair.

The Festina affair was an infamous case from 1998 in which the Festina team doctor was stopped by customs officers at the France-Belgium border and found to be carrying various doping products.

The fall-out saw several doping investigations and admissions from cyclists and in many people's eyes that was the catalyst to a new commitment to tackle doping in the sport.

Benezech's comments come just a week after former France scrum-half Jean-Pierre Elissalde claimed amphetamines were widely taken in the sport during the 1970s and 1980s.

He also admitted doping during his career.

Just a few days before that, high-ranking French anti-doping official Francoise Lasne claimed rugby had returned the highest proportion of positive dope tests in France in 2012.

Benezech blamed clubs for being complicit in abetting doping by authorising the use of banned substances for therapeutic reasons.