Saints rap Barba ban
ST HELENS will take their appeal over Ben Barba’s 12-match cocaine ban to the Court of Arbitration if necessary.
Saints believe there are no grounds for the RFL to uphold the Australian’s suspension by the NRL. They argue it was an out-ofcompetition test for a substance which was not performance enhancing.
The new signing arrived following a spell in rugby union with Toulon and has eight matches of the ban to serve.
Saints chairman Eamonn McManus said: “We are appealing against the decision of the RFL to transfer the 12-game ban to Super League.
“We seem to be slavishly adopting the NRL’s ban, which legally doesn’t make sense.
“We will go to the Court of Arbitration if the RFL doesn’t accept our arguments because we think we’ve a very strong case.”
Young Saints half-back Danny Richardson is wanted on loan by Championship side Toulouse.