Thursday 19 April 2018 10:47, UK
Yorkshire Carnegie flanker Brandon Staples has been suspended from rugby for four years after testing positive for three steroids.
An independent national anti-doping panel handed down the ban after Staples was found to have tested positive for steroids including Dehydrochloromethyl-Testosterone, Methandienone and Stanozolol.
The 20-year-old South African was tested after a training session at his club on August 9 last year, and his urine sample returned an Adverse Analytical Finding (AAF).
Staples claimed the AAF was a result of consuming a nutritional drink in South Africa while on holiday in May 2017.
The period of ineligibility has been applied from 7 September 2017 - the date of the provisional suspension - until 6 September 2021.
Stephen Watkins, RFU anti-doping and illicit drugs programme manager, said: "This is the first failed test for a performance-enhancing substance in English professional rugby since 2011 and a reminder to all that we cannot be complacent in our efforts to keep rugby a clean sport.
"Education and deterrence remain core pillars to our anti-doping strategy and we must ensure we continue to educate players of the risks involved in supplementation. Ultimately individuals are responsible for what they put into their bodies and this case highlights what can happen if a player is not vigilant."
