REPORTS are that World Rugby have thrown the book at a group of Georgian rugby personnel who were not only guilty of doping but also attempted to hide it by substituting urine samples.
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World Rugby have thrown the book at a group of Georgian rugby personnel who were not only guilty of doping but also attempted to hide it by substituting urine samples.
Former captain Merab Sharikadze has been banned for a whopping 11 years because of multiple offences, and team doctor Nutsa Shamatava for nine.
The other players suspended are: Giorgi Chkoidze (six years), Lasha Khmaladze (three years), Miriani Modebadze (three years), Otar Lashkhi (three years), and Lasha Lomidze (nine months)
World Rugby said their investigation of the Georgia senior men’s team began before the World Cup in 2023.
A parallel investigation between World Rugby and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) was triggered when irregularities in urine samples were identified by World Rugby’s athlete passport management programme, covering an extended period of time before the 2023 World Cup in France.
World Rugby alerted WADA immediately, and the two bodies worked closely together throughout extensive investigations, which featured targeted player testing and DNA analysis by World Rugby, including on historical samples held via World Rugby’s long-term storage programme.
World Rugby believed that the urine sample substitutions were conducted to conceal the use of performance-enhancing substances, while the players asserted that the sample substitutions aimed to conceal the use of non-performance-enhancing substances (namely, cannabis and tramadol).
World Rugby has charged the Georgia Rugby Union with misconduct. The Union accepted a financial penalty against them, and have agreed to adopt anti-doping education to try and avoid repeat offences.
World Rugby Chief Executive Alan Gilpin said: “This case demonstrates the importance of operating a robust, science-led anti-doping programme with coordinated biological profile analysis, testing and long-term storage functions. Our extensive four-year investigation has helped identify subversion of the doping control process and sends a clear message that World Rugby takes all anti-doping matters extremely seriously.”
The scandal comes at an unfortunate time for Georgian rugby — they host this year’s Junior World Championship, which takes place from 27 June to 18 July.
The Junior Springboks are the defending champions.