Conor Murray and Peter O’Mahony should be furious with Munster and the IRFU

The acquisition of Gerbrandt Grobler is the story that refuses to die, and for good reason.

The South African lock has been at the centre of a media storm this week having tested positive for the anabolic steroid drostanolone in 2014. The 25-year-old has spent most of this season sidelined with an ankle injury, but his return to the Munster first-team fold has prompted a wider philosophical debate in Irish Rugby as to whether Munster and the IRFU should have welcomed a known doper into their ranks after he signed from Racing last summer. Essentially, the question is were Munster and the IRFU satisfied that Grobler had served his ban and repented for his sins? Or, by signing him, have they actually endorsed a player with a history of substance abuse? Contradicting their 'zero tolerance' policy towards doping. Before going on any further, it is important to note that Grobler was not a player developed in Irish Rugby, or even a player that took steroids while playing in Ireland, but a player, nevertheless, Munster and the IRFU welcomed and were pleased to have welcomed. That is important to highlight because the furore that has emerged this week is a problem that Munster and the IRFU have created within their own ranks, not an issue they are responding to, but a situation they have brought upon themselves. Therefore, if Munster and the IRFU have created this issue, and if this is a problem that Munster CEO Garrett Fitzgerald, IRFU Performance Director David Nucifora and IRFU CEO Philip Browne have rubber stamped, why are we hearing from Peter O'Mahony and Conor Murray before we hear from any of the aforementioned stakeholders? Why have Murray and O'Mahony, two of Munster and Ireland's most high profile players, had to field questions on Grobler while those responsible stayed silent? The players didn't sign Grobler. Peter O'Mahony was not the person who wanted to bring him to Thomond Park. Conor Murray didn't ask to be asked about whether he's happy to play with someone with a history of a positive test. When Martin O'Neill stalls for 15 weeks over his contract with the FAI, we want to hear from CEO John Delaney on why he hasn't signed yet, not David Meyler. Murray and O'Mahony were put in a position on Tuesday where they had to answer for the past crimes of a new teammate. Predictably, they defended him. https://twitter.com/sineadkissane/status/953328487204565004

"This smacks of hypocrisy. I’ll tell you why I believe that. For as long as I can remember, the IRFU have resisted even a hint of performance enhancing drugs creeping into the Irish rugby."

Donal Lenihan in his Irish Examiner column:

"The Munster professional board would have sanctioned the signing of Grobler, but that should never have happened. It sends out the wrong message to everyone in the organisation. "The signing of Grobler sent the wrong message to those whose dreams are consumed on a daily basis by a desire to make it all the way to the top. It was shortsighted and unnecessary."

O'Mahony:

"It's important that we keep the game clean from an Irish rugby point of view, from a Munster point of view. It is something that needs to be talked about. As far as I'm concerned with GG, he made some bad decisions and he has done his time. He is here with us now as a Munster player and we will stand by him."

Murray:

"He gets the backing of us as players. He completely accepts what he did, it was wrong, but does that mean he shouldn't play rugby again? I think that is crazy. "It was the wrong decision, he was young and foolish. He paid the price for it. I think everyone deserves a second chance, he has learned from his mistakes."

Why does he get the backing of the Munster players when almost every other former player has said that he should be banned for life, or should have never been signed in the first place? Because, what else can you say as a current player? Go against your employers? Slate a teammate in the week of a game he could play in? Munster and the IRFU have allowed the players to look like mugs when it's ultimately Fitzgerald, Nucifora and Browne who should be taking responsibility. https://twitter.com/RuaidhriOC/status/953404111067713537 They gave the players no rail to lean on where they could say 'look, they addressed it yesterday, they said 'blank'. He's here now, and as long as he's here, he's one of our teammates'. At least give them that. Munster and the IRFU have let two of their most high profile players take a fall here while they remained silent. Even, if only, it was just for a day, with Browne speaking to the media today, it was an entirely avoidable mistake in an entirely avoidable situation for Munster and the IRFU with an entirely unavoidable issue of doping. The ball has been dropped and the players had to pick it up when Munster and the IRFU should have never let it slip in the first place.