Thorne backs drug testing

Former All Blacks captain Reuben Thorne is all for schoolboy rugby players being randomly drug tested.

Drugfree Sport NZ will test players at the top four first XV finals in Palmerston North in September, a decision prompted by mounting fears secondary school players across the country were doping to meet growing pressure to perform.

But the move doesn’t worry Thorne, who is gunning to take Christ’s College to the finals in his second year in charge of the Christchurch school.

‘‘I’ve got no issue with it,’’ the 50-times capped All Black loose forward said. ‘‘I’m 100 per cent confident that our boys are all good and clean.

‘‘It wouldn’t concern us but that’s only our region.

‘‘I’m not sure what it’s like further north, if there is any more pressure on the boys in Auckland or Waikato. But certainly down here I don’t think there is anyone dabbling in anything they shouldn’t be.’’

A 2013 survey, featuring almost 150 first XV players, resulted in 70 per cent of them admitting they took four or more supplements, with 90 per cent of them also concerned about the safety of the products they were consuming. Two of the surveyed players admitted to taking a banned substance.

Drugfree Sport NZ chief operating officer Scott Tibbutt told TVNZ the pressure on first XV teams and players around the country was ‘‘massive’’.

‘‘We know that they’re taking large amounts of supplements and things like that which we know a young child doesn’t need to be taking,’’ he said.

Only five of the remaining 23 schools in contention for the finals tournament had Drugfree Sport NZ hold a ‘‘clean sport’’ seminar with their players this season.