Donncha O’Callaghan Hits Out At Steroid Use In Rugby
Latest posts by Will Matthews (see all)
- JJ Hanrahan set to return to Munster Rugby after agreeing deal - February 22, 2025
- Six Nations 2025 – All the action from Round Three of the Championship - February 21, 2025
- Ross Byrne confirms Leinster exit after agreeing deal with new club - February 21, 2025
Donncha O’Callaghan believes that rugby players should be drug-tested by their clubs on a daily basis.
The former Lions, Munster and Ireland lock, said he would be naive to think that no players he played with ever took banned substances, but is adamant that he has never seen any evidence of it.
He has however hit out at the level of certain methods of testing.
“I would be naive to think that it doesn’t go on within the squads I have been involved in and teams I’m with, but I’ve never come across it,” O’Callaghan said.
“For me it’s cheating.
“There’s an onus on clubs as well. If it is going on, I would be fully in favour of testing every morning.
What’s more worrying is that you look around dressing-rooms now and the amount of pain killers that fly around before games.”
The use of (TUE’s Therapeutic Use Exemptions) has been hot topic in recent days with the Racing scandal involving Dan Carter, Juan Imhoff and Joe Rokocoko.
Do you think painkillers are being overused in rugby? [Belfast Telegraph]
