Rugby

Ireland international handed two year ban for drug use

It’s been revealed that former Ireland international Dan Touhy was handed a two year ban from the sport weeks after his official retirement back in 2020.

The 35-year-old won 11 Test caps between 2010 and 2015, appearing at the 2015 Rugby World Cup and played a key role in the 2014 Six Nations triumph, but retired in February 2020 following a horror arm fracture.

As a result, he ordered an anabolic agent (similar to steroids) online, which he took for four months, in order to build back the muscle loss in his injured arm.

Writing in the Irish Independent, Paul Kimmage revealed that the second-row, who played in the Premiership for Leicester, Bristol and Worcester tested positive for SARMs use following a routine test by de l’Agence Francaise de Lutte contre le Dopage (AFLD) in 2020.

Despite officially retiring, he was randomly tested while working in his former club Vannes gym and was subsequently banned fo four years, which was later reduced to two on appeal.

The Irish Rugby Football Union said in a statement: “The IRFU had not been made aware that former player Dan Tuohy had tested positive for banned substances in France.

“The IRFU, through Ulster Rugby, will examine the circumstances surrounding Dan Touhy’s subsequent appointment to a coaching position by a domestic club in Ulster.”

READ THE FULL STORY FROM THE IRISH TIMES HERE:

EDITORS PICKS:

5 Biggest Drug Scandals in Rugby

1. Bath trio banned

Former England international, Michael Lipman, who had won 10 caps for his country was handed a nine month ban for a drug offence in 2009.

The same ban was dished out to his ex-team-mates at Bath, Alex Crockett and Andrew Higgins, for refusing to submit to doping tests despite repeated requests by their employers.

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The post Ireland international handed two year ban for drug use appeared first on Ruck.

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