Irish amateur tests positive

AN Irish amateur rugby player has been severely reprimanded by the Irish Sport Anti-Doping Disciplinary Panel after testing positive for taking cannabis.

The Panel found the presence of a prohibited substance or its metabolite, cannabis, in a sample of the player’s urine collected during in-competition testing towards the end of the 2006-2007 season.

The player, whose identity was not revealed, stood provisionally suspended until the hearing of the Panel.

At the hearing, the Panel severely warned and reprimanded the player, but it was decided not to impose a period of ineligibility.

He becomes the second rugby player to be tested for cannabis in recent times and is fortunate to receive no term of suspension.

Former Ulster second row Rowan Frost committed an anti-doping violation, when he tested positive for cannabis after a Leinster-Ulster Celtic League tie at Donnybrook in October 2005.