Rugby Australia is considering introducing mandatory hair-follicle tests that could uncover players taking illegal substances up to three months before being tested.
While the idea of keeping a three-month drug record of players is understood to have been discussed at RA for some time, the governing body is keen to introduce the testing this year.
Feeling the pinch: Wallabies star Kurtley Beale Kurtley Beale has returned early from a holiday to answer questions surrounding a video which shows him in the presence of a group of men passing around a plate with white powder.Credit:AAP
The news comes as Wallaby Kurtley Beale was forced to return early from a holiday in New Zealand to answer questions surrounding another video which shows him in the presence of a group of men passing around a plate containing a white powder.
The 83-Test playmaker will have to face RA’s integrity unit for the second time in a week after the leaked video appeared online. Beale had already apologised to RA boss Raelene Castle for the embarrassment caused earlier this week after a tape surfaced showing him laughing at an elderly man snorting a white substance off a plate handed to him by NRL player Corey Norman.
The video is understood to have been taken in 2016,and Beale did not receive any sanctions.
The Herald can reveal that RA has been discussing the idea of hair-follicle tests with the Rugby Union Players’ Association sincelate 2017, during CBA negotiations.
While no agreement has been locked in yet, it is understood both RA and RUPA are keen for the tests to go ahead and that the Beale news had no bearing on the potential trial.
Under RA’s illicit drugs policy, as agreed to in the CBA, if players test positive they are given a first warning, meaning the club and others are not notified. A second strike results in an automatic suspension.
However, a new program featuring hair tests is set be trialled throughout the year, with a view to it being formally adopted in the next CBA pending agreement by RA and RUPA.
Hair testing could reveal a player’s drug activity from the previous three months. The ability to detect what drugs, how much and specific dates on which they were taken is all possible and there is far more insight provided than a normal urine sample.
The Herald also understands not all professional players across the country have been briefed on the proposed tests.
If RA does come to an agreement with RUPA about the tests, they will be used as more of a method to help with player welfare. RA would rather try and help a player through a potential drug problem by identifying it early rather than using it as a means to immediately rub them out of the game.
Because the hair-follicle tests would only be used this season as a trial, it is understood players would not receive a strike if they if they tested positive to an illicit substance.
If the hair tests are working and doing what they are designed to do, RA would more than likely try and incorporate them into a new CBA and an amendment to the illicit drugs policy.
If the green light is given, RA is set to follow in the footsteps of AFL and Cricket Australia who already have hair-follicle testing policies for their athletes.
The Beale headlines have been far from ideal for Australian rugby with less than a month to go before the start of the Super Rugby season.
He will have to answer questions as to why on two separate occasions, reportedly in 2015 after the Rugby World Cup and then again in 2016, he was associating with individuals allegedly partaking in illicit substance use.
RA did not provide any further comment on the matter on Thursday.
Beale is still expected to line up in round one for the NSW Waratahs against the Hurricanes on February 16.
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