South Africa’s Chiliboy Ralepelle and Bjorn Basson have failed doping tests and will play no further part in the tour of Britain and Ireland, the world champions announced on Monday.
The duo both returned positive test samples for the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine following the Springboks’ 23-21 win over Ireland in Dublin on Nov. 6.
Six Nations Rugby — who administer this month’s internationals — informed the South African Rugby Union of the positive tests late on Sunday.
SUSPENDED
As a result the pair are provisionally suspended from all rugby, including Saturday’s upcoming match against Scotland at Murrayfield and the Nov. 27 encounter against England.
The two were to return to South Africa on Monday.
Basson, 23, injured an ankle playing on the wing while winning his fourth cap in Saturday’s 29-25 win over Wales in Cardiff — a match where hooker Ralepelle came off the bench — and was due to return anyway.
RANDOM TESTING
The players were randomly drawn for testing by anti-doping officials following the Test at Lansdowne Road. Both Basson and Ralepelle have the right to request that their B sample be tested.
The 24-year-old Ralepelle, capped 18 times by South Africa, was the first black player to captain the national side against the World XV in Leicester two years ago.
Basson started the match against Ireland, while Ralepelle was an unused replacement.
STIMULANT FOUND
A South African Rugby Union statement said the pair “returned an adverse analytical finding for methylhexaneamine, a ‘non-specified stimulant’ on the prohibited substances list of the World Anti-Doping Agency.
It is scheduled to be re-classified as a ‘specified stimulant’ from Jan. 1, 2011.”
‘Non-specified’ means there are no concessions in the doping code for unintended use.
MEDAL STRIPPED
Methylhexaneamine was also the substance that led to Nigeria’s Osayemi Oludamola being stripped of her 100m gold medal at the New Delhi Commonwealth Games last month.
Although a stimulant that appears in some nasal decongestants, there are also concerns Methylhexaneamine could boost athletes’ heart-rates.
However, the fact its status is set to change in a matter of months could yet have a bearing on any disciplinary punishments handed out to either Basson or Ralepelle under the legal principle of lex mitior, which seeks to apply the more lenient penalty in cases where there is a relaxation of the law or, in this case, the doping code.
US national team star Folarin Balogun was among the scorers as AS Monaco on Friday won 3-1 at Paris Saint-Germain, dealing a blow to the side from the French capital before they face Chelsea in a crunch UEFA Champions League round-of-16 tie. Maghnes Akliouche gave Monaco a first-half lead at the Parc des Princes, and Aleksandr Golovin doubled their advantage early in the second half of the French Ligue 1 clash. Bradley Barcola pulled one back for the reigning European champions, but Balogun struck shortly after with a fifth goal in his last five games as Monaco claimed a precious
Teenage star Lamine Yamal’s superbly-taken goal on Saturday earned Barcelona a 1-0 win at Athletic Bilbao in Spanish La Liga. The champions restored their four-point lead over second-placed Real Madrid, who had on Friday temporarily closed the gap by beating Celta Vigo. Atletico Madrid tightened their grip on third with an entertaining 3-2 win over Real Sociedad. Yamal, 18, curled into the top corner after 68 minutes to split the sides at Athletic’s San Mames stadium. “We’re already seeing what Lamine can do — he puts it right in the top corner, and there’s nothing the keeper can do,” Barca
West Ham United on Monday advanced to the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 5-3 penalty shoot-out win against Brentford, who paid the price for Dango Ouattara’s spot-kick blunder. Nuno Espirito Santo’s side twice blew the lead as Jarrod Bowen’s double was canceled out by an Igor Thiago brace to force extra-time in the 2-2 draw at the London Stadium, but in the shoot-out, Brentford winger Ouattara attempted a chipped Panenka penalty, but his woeful effort was straight at West Ham goalkeeper Alphonse Areola. It was an awful mistake by the Burkina Faso international and West Ham took full advantage. Bowen, Valentin Castellanos, Callum
CHANCE TO QUALIFY: Both teams now have three points from two games, and Taiwan sit ahead of Vietnam and behind Japan, who last night beat India 11-0 Taiwan yesterday defeated Vietnam 1-0 to move into second place in Group C at the AFC Women’s Asian Cup with one match remaining. Su Yu-hsuan scored the decisive goal in the 26th minute after Taiwan midfielder Saki Matsunaga’s shot hit the crossbar, leaving Su to nod the rebound into an empty net for the team which won the last of their three Asian Cup titles in 1981. It was a deserved victory for Taiwan, 2-0 losers to Japan on Wednesday, who created several chances to extend their lead. Vietnam, the 2022 quarter-finalist, beat India in their opener, but struggled to
RSS