LIFETIME BAN WILL STOP THE CHEATING

ANY player caught doping should be banned for life, reckons Stephen Ferris.

Speaking against the backdrop of the current controversy surrounding Munster’s Gerbandt Grobler, Ferris himself had a formerly banned player as a colleague at Ulster – Carlo del Fava. On the signing of Grobler (above), Ferris feels the blame lies at the door of the IRFU and Munster.

He said: “There wasn’t enough thought put into the recruitment process of that player and it’s not his fault, he signed for Munster and he had a past record which he, I’m sure, is not proud of, but that’s in the past. “It’s an IRFU and Munster problem, it’s not his problem. But I would be very much of the opinion that if you were ever caught using steroids or a banned substance, a performance enhancing substance, that the book is thrown at you and it’s a lifetime ban.

“If that happened then nobody would do it, it’s as simple as that.”

Ferris added: “It’s got to a stage now where guys are going to France and getting six or seven hundred thousand a year. Are they going to jeopardise that money – life-changing money – for performance enhancing?

“Absolutely not.”

The signing of two young South Africans for the Munster Academy has also been called into question.

Ferris said: “It’s picking and choosing wisely.

“The provinces employ guys to go out and find talent from underage level from further afield.

That’s their job and responsibility and if they feel it’s right, then it’s right.”