Terry Newton drugs case is doping breakthrough for UKAD

Newton has made 15 international appearances for Great Britain

UK Anti-Doping have hailed Terry Newton's positive test for human growth hormone as a major breakthrough.

The former Great Britain rugby league forward is the first sports star in the world to have hGH analysed from a blood sample, which led to his two-year ban.

"This is a landmark in the fight against doping," said UKAD chief executive Andy Parkinson.

"hGH is a substance that has previously gone undetected because it leaves the system fairly quickly."

Parkinson added: "This positive finding was a combination of intelligence, target-testing and a strong partnership with the scientific community in anti-doping.

"Athletes using hGH should take Newton's experience as a stern warning - if you use hGH you will not get away with it."

UKAD and the drug-testing laboratory at King's College's Drug Control Centre in London worked closely with the World Anti-Doping Agency throughout the sample-analysis process.

WADA director general David Howman said: "This first completed case involving an analytical finding for hGH is a positive step in the global fight against doping in sport.

"It sends a strong message to those athletes who take the risk to misuse hGH that we will ultimately catch them."

Former Leeds, Wigan and Bradford hooker Newton received an automatic two-year ban after last week admitting that he had taken the banned substance. And he has now had his contract cancelled with Super League side Wakefield Trinity Wildcats.