• • Facebook
  • Digg
  • Del.icio.us
  • Technorati
  • Reddit
  • Stumble Upon
  • Furl

The IRB Rugby World Cup Sevens has been declared a clean tournament, the IRB confirmed on Monday. "The unprecedented tournament testing programme was the most comprehensive ever run for a Sevens tournament and one of the biggest ever undertaken by the IRB," said IRB anti-doping manager, Tim Ricketts.

"In addition to 80 controls taken in competition during Rugby World Cup Sevens 2009, a programme of 759 tests were conducted throughout the qualification process and the IRB Sevens World Series over a 14-month period leading up to the Dubai tournament in March.

"The programme included 442 out of competition tests on the top 24 ranked men's Sevens teams."

The historic three-day tournament, which featured a 16-team women's competition for the first time running alongside the 24-team men's event, also promoted the IRB's Outreach and Keep Rugby Clean programmes, developed in partnership with the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA).

"The purpose of these programmes is to educate players about the doping control process, therapeutic use exemptions and prohibited substances, including those known as recreational drugs in line with other elite athlete testing programmes," added Ricketts.

"An Outreach education stand was set up in the tournament hotel and over 300 players visited the stand and tested their knowledge of anti-doping by taking the WADA computer quiz.

"All found it extremely beneficial and on behalf of the IRB, I would like to thank all the players and officials involved for their enthusiasm."

Uale Mai, the Samoa Sevens captain and IRB Keep Rugby Clean ambassador, added: "I am very pleased that Rugby World Cup Sevens has been declared a clean tournament.

"International competition is the pinnacle of our sport and represents the very best the game has to offer, so it is essential for the integrity and perception of Sevens that we return a clean competition."

Treu shows support to injured star

Springbok Sevens coach Paul Treu on Friday expressed his support to Vuyo Zangqa who sustained serious facial injuries after being involved in a car accident in Johannesburg on Thursday.

The Bok Sevens star, who returned to Cape Town on Tuesday with the victorious South African Sevens team who were recently crowned IRB World Sevens Series Champions, will undergo an operation to his left eye next week. Zangqa also fractured his nose and mouth.

“It’s devastating news for us. He has been one of our stars in the Springbok Sevens team this season,” said Bok Sevens coach Paul Treu.

“Our thoughts and prayers are now with him. It’s never nice when one of your players or a member of the team is involved in any kind of accident. We’ll keep our fingers crossed and hopefully the state of the injury to his eye will not be as bad as it seems.”