Ireland v Samoa: Talking points and reaction as the Irish qualify from Pool A at Rugby World Cup

A busy time down in Fukuoka last night, covering Ireland's emphatic win over Samoa. On-the-whistle pieces for The Independent and The Guardian, and more reflective pieces for The Observer and The Rugby Paper.

Embed from Getty Images

UK Anti-Doping's James Hudson highlights the danger of drug misuse in rugby

UK Anti-Doping's James Hudson spoke exclusively to me about the perils around doping in rugby union. The experienced Premiership lock - now a researcher and sports nutrition expert - spoke to me ahead of the publication of the RFU's eighth annual report into anti-doping. A version of this piece ran in The Rugby Paper before the report was published, and my interview with Hudson was also used within The Independent's coverage of the report.

Rugby runs the risk of players taking performance-enhancing drugs as a “last roll of the dice” unless education around doping is stepped up, UK Anti-Doping’s James Hudson is warning.

Former Newcastle Falcons captain Hudson, who also played for Bath, London Irish and Gloucester, believes the game needs to do more to support young players who are left “vulnerable” after missing out on senior contracts or contract renewals.

Embed from Getty Images

Hudson, a member of UK Anti-Doping’s Athlete Commission, does not believe there is a doping problem at the elite level of rugby, but is calling on administrators and coaches to be pro-active in minimising the temptations to cheat.

The RFU’s eighth annual report on its anti-doping programme in England was published on April 23, while World Rugby is due to reveal the outcome of its 2018 testing programme in a matter of weeks.

Hudson says rugby union is the “most culpable” of any UK sport in terms of doping breaches, and says coaches need to be careful about their use of language when talking to players.

According to data collated from UKAD by online medical firm euroClinix, Rugby Union has registered 66 anti-doping rule violations in the UK since 2008 – more than the second and third sports on the list combined (Rugby League and professional boxing). Between September 2008 and April 2018, 34 of the sanctions in Union were for the use of anabolic agents.

“Rugby is unfortunately the most culpable of all sports in terms of anti-doping rule violations in the UK, which isn’t good,” Hudson said. “These figures are representative of the evidence over the last decade.

“The vast majority are in the sub-elite population, where athletes have dropped out of an academy system and dropped down to Championship-level or first division and they have made a poor decision.

“They feel to make it back to the top level it’s the last roll of the dice. That’s where most of these poor decisions come from.

“Younger athletes – 18 to 20 – they don’t quite get that first-team contract they have so desired for years. This can be coupled with the language from coaches – players feel more and more pressured into meeting the physical needs of the game. There is pressure on players to get bigger.

“There is potential vulnerability. They hear: ‘You are not quite big enough or strong enough’. There might be a range of reasons why they have not got a contract, but if players leave academies and think that’s the only reason they haven’t been included that’s when they are reaching for something. That’s a time we need to be really careful about the language we use.

“Players are maybe looking for a quick fix as they don’t have the support they once had. They are vulnerable athletes.”

Hudson believes the Ashley Johnson case is the only example of a doping violation at Premiership level over the past decade. Wasps forward Johnson received a six-month suspension in July after a urine sample contained banned hydrochlorothiazide, which Johnson said was the result of him mistakenly taking his wife’s fat burner dietary supplement.

Embed from Getty Images

Hudson, a sports performance nutritionist working at Gloucester and a PhD researcher at Liverpool John Moores University, believes the high wages paid to Premiership players now actually serve as a deterrent to elite players resorting to performance-enhancing drugs.

“At the elite level there is now just too much to lose,” he said. “I just don’t see the logic in risking what is now such a high-rewarding sport financially. The elite players have a lot to lose. I don’t see the incentive there.

“The flip side is that those who have just missed out or dropped a tier or two – the carrot is big and that probably doesn’t help.

“I don’t think there is an issue at the top level where there is testing in abundance, but there is at the sub-elite.”

World Rugby and the RFU are ramping up their education efforts to minimise instances of doping. Later this year, the RFU will launch a Good Nutrition for Performance education programme, while World Rugby this week announced new anti-doping education initiatives, with a focus on nutritional advice, the safe use of supplements, and more engaging online-learning initiatives for players and support staff.

Dr Simon Kemp, the RFU’s director of medical services and chairman of its Anti-Doping Advisory Group, said: “Prevention through education is at the core of the RFU’s anti-doping strategy. Working closely with Premiership Rugby, the Rugby Players’ Association and UK Anti-Doping, we work to reach thousands of players, athletes, coaches, trainers, medical staff and other support personnel each season.

“The community game anti-doping strategy is focused on improving awareness, enhancing education and increasing testing. A key message is that players looking to improve their performance should optimise their hydration, diet, sleep, training and recovery practices and adopt a healthy lifestyle.”

World Rugby's Anti-Doping Advisory Committee chairman John O’Driscoll said: "As a sport, we must always be alive to the threat of doping and we remain committed to protecting clean athletes and maintaining a level playing field through intelligent testing and innovative values-based education."

Hudson said there was a greater willingness from World Rugby to involve players in decisions around anti-doping policy.

“They are really actively trying to listen to the view of players, which is a big step forward,” he said. “The athletes’ voice is vital.”

Nick Abendanon: How England boss Stuart Lancaster tried to prevent my move from Bath Rugby to Clermont Auvergne

Former England full-back Nick Abendanon talks to me exclusively about how England head coach Stuart Lancaster and former club Bath staged a last-minute attempt to dissuade him from making his summer move to French Top 14 giants Clermont Auvergne.

Abendanon was last month nominated for European Player of the Year, and few would take issue with the assertion that he's the continent's in-form full-back. Yet, absurdly, he's off the radar during the 6 Nations.

Read my article in The Rugby Paper.

listen to ‘Nick Abendanon discusses the co-ordinated effort by England and Bath to keep him playing in the Premiership’ on audioBoom

Warriors and Exiles

It's a trip to Sixways for me tomorrow where I'll be broadcasting for the BBC at Worcester Warriors Vs London Irish and reporting for The Rugby Paper. I'll be expert summariser on BBC Hereford & Worcester; a link to the commentary and all other BBC rugby commentaries this weekend can be found here.

Bristol's Chris Booy - a sure-footed chairman in the itchy-footed world of pro sport

Things have been a tad quiet on here of late, for which I apologise. In mitigation, I can only plead time-poverty. Making the transition to freelancer has been demanding, especially when set against the domestic backdrop of the imminent arrival of child number three. Still, at least I'll soon have a complete frontrow at my disposal.

 

I spoke to Bristol chairman Chris Booy just before the new season kicked off to do a piece for The Rugby Paper. In it, Booy spoke about how promotion from the Championship wasn't "the be all and end all" for his club this season. With multi-millionaire financial services big-hitter Steve Lansdown now on board, Booy said the emphasis at the Memorial Ground was on building a squad that would be capable of staying in the Premiership once it got up there, rather than going up and down between divisions like the proverbial courtesan's negligee.

 

Well, with the start Bristol have had, it's a good job promotion isn't the be all and end all.

 

It's been pretty grim so far, with three defeats in their opening five Championship matches. Two of those losses have been at home, the latest a 22-21 reversal against Moseley.

 

But don't strike a line through Bristol's promotion propects just yet. They have a phalanx of players due back from injury, and I liked the cut of  Booy's jib when I spoke to him back in late August. Measured, grounded and pragmatic, I think Booy's chairmanship, buttressed by Lansdown's deep pockets, will make Bristol a force to be reckoned with over the medium term.

 

“Getting promoted is not the be all and end all,” he told me. “We can go again. When we win the Championship, we want to make sure we stay in the Premiership. We don’t want the yo-yoing that we’ve had previously. That was down to financial instability and we don’t have that now. The plan is to build so that when we do get our prize we stay in the Premiership. We are in for the long-term. We are in the best place that the club has been in for a long time."

 

Refreshingly, the level-headed Booy is the perfect antidote to the worryingly expanding breed of impatient, trigger-happy CEOs and chairmen who bin coaches at the first sign of trouble. (Sale's Steve Diamond springs to mind.) Instead of waving the metaphorical axe in head coach Liam Middleton's direction, Booy offers a sympathetic ear.

 

“The head coach position in all sport is a dreadful position," he said. "You have the pressure of the directors’ ambitions on you, and then underneath you have the whole club reliant on the direction you choose. It’s a lonely place to be.

 

“So we have set up a series of mentors and friends of the club so that Liam has that network to help him. We have a young coach and we’ve had conversations with him so he has the best support. You need to get it right.”

How enlightened an approach in this increasingly itchy-footed, cut-throat world of professional sport. But whether Booy will be so sympathetic if things don't pick up for Bristol over the next couple of months is, I suspect, quite another matter.