A Welsh Rugby Union (WRU) Championship player has been banned for four years for using a banned steroid.
UK Anti-Doping [UKAD] confirmed today that Ystalyfera RFC player Jesse Patton has been suspended from all sport due to a positive test for metendienone, an anabolic steroid, last September.
BAN 🏉 | Welsh Rugby Union player, Jesse Patton has been suspended from all sport for a period of four years following an Anti-Doping Rule Violation (ADRV).
— UK Anti-Doping (@ukantidoping) July 6, 2020
Full judgement 👉 https://t.co/sCiQi6hVRk#banfromsport pic.twitter.com/q6d7uJ59L8
Patton said his positive test was “absolutely unintentional” but an independent National Anti-Doping Panel banned him for four years through until midnight on 7 November 2023.
Patton denied committing an anti-doping rule violation and claimed that his failed test may have been due to taking a medication his friend gave him after he had contracted a sexually transmitted disease.
Stacey Cross, UKAD Deputy Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs said: “Our message to athletes is clear. Steroids and other prohibited substances have no place in sport.
“If you take the risk, you could be facing a ban from sport as a result.”
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Sir Ian McGeechan picks his dream team, and it’s as fearsome as you’d expect
BACK-THREE
Fullback: JPR Williams (Wales) – “Not a staggeringly original choice, I’ll admit. But to my mind the only one. If I’m going to be picking a dream XV over the next few days then I want JPR at the back. No question.”
Left-wing: Jonah Lomu (New Zealand) – “Illness and injury ultimately slowed him down. But his performances at the 1995 World Cup, just as the game was turning professional, will never be forgotten. The game needed a superstar, and it got one in Lomu. He was brilliant for rugby.”
Right-wing: John Kirwan (New Zealand) – “He had an all round game; he could carry the ball through heavy traffic, he could offload, he was like an extra back-rower at times. Plus, he had natural effortless pace. He ended up scoring 35 tries for the All Blacks and was instrumental as they went through their unbeaten spell of games between 1987 and 1990.”
CENTRES
Outside-centre: Brian O’Driscoll (Ireland) – “His ability to get back on his feet after tackling to compete for the ball was extraordinary, and ensured he always had an impact on the game, whatever type of game it was. He was such a natural talent.”
Inside-centre: Philippe Sella (France) – “Sella and O’Driscoll were powerful men. They could stop a forward in his tracks. I think as a pair they would dominate any midfield and I like the thought of them together.”