Rugby union 'gave player drugs'

Visagie played 19 tests for his country

Springbok prop Cobus Visagie has claimed the banned steroid for which he tested positive was supplied by the South African Rugby Football Union.

The 27-year-old's lawyers made the claims at a Sarfu tribunal chaired by Judge Edwin King, according to the Afrikaans-language daily Beeld.

The tight-head prop, capped 19 times by his country, produce a positive sample for nandrolone when tested after a domestic match in October.

Other unnamed sources had disclosed that analysis by the Stellenbosch University of supplements provided to Visagie indicated the presence of the anabaloic steroid nandrolone, the newspaper said.

  Visagie timeline

14 October: Tested after Currie Cup match

3 November: Positive test revealed

10 November: B sample tested

16 November: B sample also tests positive

18 December: Hearing adjourns after four days

Judge King, who also heads South Africa's cricket match-fixing inquiry, ordered further tests on the supplements.

The hearing was adjourned until January to allow Sarfu to investigate the claims and Judge King to continue his cricket match-fixing probe.

Visagie said when he tested positive for the banned substance on 14 October that he only took supplements provided to him by Sarfu and his Western Province union.

Two-year ban

Sarfu medical advisor Ismail Jakjoet said he could not comment because the matter was still under investigation.

The test came after a Currie Cup match when his random urine sample revealed traces of the steroid, as did a B sample.

The last Springbok to be found guilty of drug abuse was lock Johan Ackermann in 1997 who was banned for two years. Visagie faces a similar ban if found guilty under International Rugby Board regulations.