Cortisone is not a form of cheating

WHATEVER about Munster, it’s been a rough week for Racing 92 off the field, with Dan Carter, Joe Rokocoko and Juan Imhoff all being questioned on their test results after the Top 14 final, writes David Wallace.

The key thing in this argument is that cortisone injections are at times needed to help an athlete recover from an injury.

I haven’t had a lot but I have had one or two out of competition and from my experience you take these injections to settle down a joint when it’s inflamed.

The only reason you take it is to aid recovery in order to play unhindered on the pitch. They are anti-inflammatories, which is a far cry from anything performance-enhancing.

There is a lot of scaremongering in the press and I feel that muddies the waters in terms of trying to clean up the sport from some possible real problems that may be out there, such as performance-enhancing drugs.

Cortisone is not people trying to cheat at all. It is a case of just trying to get players out on the field not feeling uncomfortable and having to deal with injuries.

I am certainly not trying to say there is no-one out there using banned substances in world rugby right now – it would be naïve to think so – but I do feel that this is not the case here with the players at Racing 92.