Johnson ban should set warning light blazing

WASPS flanker Ashley Johnson is the latest rugby player to be banned for doping and although his case is very particular it serves as a timely warning.

Johnson, below, who received a backdated six month ban to the date of his positive test on February 7 this year, appears to have inadvertently taken his wife’s dietary supplement – a fat burner called ‘The Secret’ – which was partly made up of hydrochlorothiazide, a prohibited substance, which was not, alas, recorded on the list of ingredients.

Now you could call that unlucky and the RFU disciplinary committee certainly accepted his explanation but rugby is still a long way behind other sports in its awareness of the dangers of supplements.

Between 10-15% of all supplements you can buy over the counter will contain an ingredient that is on the banned list and the athlete is always held responsible for what he or she ingests. A red warning light should blaze every time you either buy or consume a supplement.

Meanwhile in New Zealand, where there is big clampdown, club players Brandyn Laursen, Tukiterangi Raimona and Lionel Skipwith have all received two year bans for anti-doping offences

Laursen, a former Heartland Championship player, admitted using the anabolic agent Clenbuterol in 2014 and 2015.

Raimona was banned for using the anabolic steroid dianabol in 2015. He retired through injury in 2014 and started using the drug but then returned to rugby in 2015 which rendered his use illegal.

Skipwith claimed he was unaware that clenbuterol was banned when he used it in 2015.