Hull wing banned over use of steroids
A National League Two player has been given a four-year ban after testing positive for three banned substances.
Stephen Hihetah, a Romania Sevens international, failed a drug test in February while playing for Hull. The 28-year-old wing, who was born in London to a Romanian mother, tested positive for the steroids Stanozolol and Metandienone and also Tamoxifen.
Hihetah, who appeared before a Rugby Football Union hearing, said that he had ingested the drugs inadvertently after someone had passed a pre-workout drink to him in a London gym during the Christmas period last year.
The adjudicating panel did not believe his account and found him in breach of the World Rugby antidoping regulation, citing the rule that sanctions a player over the “presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolites or markers in their sample”. Hihetah’s ban is backdated to June 12, which means he will be suspended to the summer of 2023. Hull play in National League Two North in the fourth tier of English rugby.
Stephen Watkins, the RFU antidoping and illicit drugs programme manager, said: “All rugby players are subject to the anti-doping rules which are in place to protect players and the integrity of our sport.”
Meanwhile, the experienced England back row Ben Morgan has signed a new “long-term” contract with Gloucester. The 30-year-old, who won the most recent of his 31 caps in 2015, played an important role for Gloucester last season as they finished third in the Premiership. “I grew up as a Gloucester supporter. I feel honoured to have worn the Cherry and White,” he said.
Michael Le Bourgeois, the Jersey-born back, has signed a new contract with Wasps. “He’s given us plenty of go-forward in attack while he’s shown his strong capabilities in defence,” Dai Young, the Wasps director of rugby, said. The length of the deal was not disclosed.