SA want all players tested after Tune case

RUGBY: South Africa have requested that all 44 players involved in Saturday's Test here against Australia be tested for illegal drugs in the light of accusations that the Australian Rugby Union has been involved in a cover-up.

Rudolf Straeuli, the Springboks coach, made the call after it was disclosed that the union had ignored a failed dope test unofficially given to the Wallaby wing Ben Tune in March 2001, when he was playing for the Queensland Reds.

The ARU said it had been informed at the time by the Queensland Rugby Union and admitted that the player had been stood down for four Super 12 matches until traces of a substance, probenecid, often administered with antibiotics in treating infections but also used as a masking agent for steroids, had cleared his system.

The ARU claims the drug was innocently prescribed to speed his recovery from a knee infection. Once it was realised what Tune had been given, he was privately tested and only returned after his system had cleared.

"It's disturbing to see that something like this could be concealed," Straeuli said. "It would be in the interests of the game if the IRB or alternatively Sanzar (the southern hemisphere umbrella body) ensured that both teams be drug tested before Saturday's game." A spokesman for the Wallabies described the suggestion as "pointless", but the International Rugby Board has requested a chronology of events and stated that its regulations "include notice and disclosure obligations."

In the event of a failed test the IRB requires players to be called before an independent tribunal. If the presence of a banned substance is proved the mandatory sentence is a two-year suspension.

John O'Neill, the managing director of the ARU, said it had acted "with good intentions". He added: "It's a difficult decision, particularly when the player is the unintended victim of an oversight. His reputation did not deserve to be tarnished. We are required to notify the International Rugby Board and that did not happen. We need to address that."