Clinton van der Berg

Tour de France rider disqualified from race after wearing AI glasses during Stage 1 trib.al/K3I2TvY

The news around Kai Pratt testing positive for an anabolic steroid, I thought it might be good to quell a few major misconceptions around drugs and rugby. Misconception #1: South Africa are just really good at catching cheats. Catching the highest number of dopers while running the lowest number of tests does not prove that you are the "best in the world at catching cheaters." It actually means that there's a widespread culture of abuse. Misconception #2: South Africa is the only nation with a schoolboy doping problem, because they keep catching cheats. New Zealand and South Africa are the only major countries that actively test schoolboy rugby. In fact, the Irish Rugby Football Union has actively opposed universal schoolboy testing, deeming it "excessive and unfair." Other nations aren't catching schoolboy dopers because they aren't testing them. Misconception #3: Roids give no permanent advantage. Using PEDs during developmental years creates permanent structural and muscular changes. If someone uses at school and then gets completely clean to go pro, they carry a permanent, drug-induced advantage over naturally trained athletes. Misconception #4: The drop in testing is part of Rassie's plan and why they won the last x2 World Cups. In early 2024, the WADA-accredited testing laboratory in Bloemfontein lost its accreditation. This forced SAIDS to ship biological samples to overseas labs in places like Qatar and Belgium at vastly inflated prices. The drop in testing numbers is an economic issue, not a conspiracy. Misconception #5: It's not THAT big of an issue. Because of funding cuts, SAIDS is specifically targeting athletes who are more likely to be doping, or who the suspect of doping. This literally means they will miss countless other players who they aren't suspicious of. Not only is this a big issue, this is a bigger issue than it appears. Misconception #6: It's only a few bad eggs. At the annual Craven Week schoolboy tournament, teenage players return positive tests for anabolic steroids almost every single year. This includes five positive tests in 2015, six in 2018, and five in 2022. This is a systemic issue.