Rugby player banned after positive test
A BT Premiership rugby player has been suspended for three years and nine months after a positive test for a synthethic steroid.
Andrew act on was immediately suspended by top-flight Ayrshire club Marr RFC when the provisional test became known on the eve of the current season and the player has since left the club.
Concern over the use of steroids in rugby is growing, with Acton the fourth player north of the Border to have returned a positive result after over 2,000 tests since the 2009-10 season.
Scotland No 8 Cornell du Preez will leave Edinburgh at the end of the season as part of a squad cull linked by head coach Richard Cockerill to player salaries.
Cockerill declared: “It is not possible for us to come up with the sums of money that these sorts of players demand.”
Scrum-half Sam Hidalgo-clyne and standoff duo Duncan Weir and Jason Tovey will also be on their way.
South African-born Du Preez started for Scotland in the 34-7 Six Nations loss to Wales, earning his sixth cap, but was dropped from the squad for the 32-26 win over France at BT Murrayfield on Sunday.
Cockerill added: “He is a very valuable player in the market place so we’ve decided that the money can be spent across the group.”
RICHARD COCKERILL “I feel we are moving in the right direction”
Edinburgh Rugby head coach Richard Cockerill has put his faith in current starter Jaco van der Walt and Simon Hickey, who is to arrive this summer, as the club’s stand-offs going forward after it was announced that Duncan Weir and Jason Tovey are to leave.
The duo will be heading for the exit door at the end of the season along with Sam Hidalgo-clyne and Cornell du Preez.
When Scotland cap Weir headed along the M8 from Glasgow Warriors to Edinburgh, many saw it as the start of a renaissance for the club and the player as he aimed to regain his international spot.
However, it has never quite happened for Weir in the capital, the 26-year-old seeing the head coach that signed him, Alan Solomons, leave soon after and then suffering a number of injuries.
As a result, he was due to start a loan at Worcester Warriors this week, but has been recalled by Edinburgh due to a lack of backs cover.
Cockerill said: “We have Simon Hickey coming to play stand-off and Jaco van der Walt has come in and done well, so a cost comes with those two and we don’t need three 10s because there is not enough space at the table playing wise or financially.
“The way we want to play suits different personnel.”
Welsman Tovey has been at the club since joining on loan from the Cardiff Blues in 2016. And, with a quartet of departures, Cockerill has moved to calm supporters fears about the quality of the squad for 2018/19.
“We are looking to build the squad over the next three, four or five years to have some continuity and build some strength so we are able to compete,” he said.
“This is not about any one individual and if nothing changes then nothing will change. When I arrived this team had not done well in years so something had to change. Now we have changed things I feel we are moving in the right direction.
“We are playing a good brand of rugby, we are bringing through some good young Scottish lads, we are getting the best out of what we’ve got and I am excited about the future.”
So, with spaces freed up in the squad, could Edinburgh be about to re-sign Scotland centre Matt Scott?
He was a fans’ favourite between 2011 and 2016 and has been told he can leave by Gloucester, but Cockerill is remaining tight lipped.
“I’m not in a position to confirm that at this point,” he said. l George Horne has signed a contract extension with Glasgow Warriors which takes him up until May 2019.
The 22-year-old scrumhalf has scored eight tries in 16 appearances for the Warriors in his first year as a professional.