Former British and Irish Lion says doping is now “very common” in rugby

A worrying revelation from somebody who has been close to the problem.

In 2013, former British and Irish Lion Craig Chalmers' son Sam failed a drugs test while playing for the Scottish u20 side, and was given two year suspension, becoming the first Scottish player ever to fail a dope test. The now 21-year-old Sam is due to make his return soon, but his father, who was an out half for Scotland in the late 80s and 90s, says he has heard anecdotal evidence of a big increase in the number of players taking illegal performance enhancing substances. Chalmers has also hit out at the Scottish Rugby Union for their failure to use his son as a cautionary tale for younger players, and their failure to examine just why the then 19-year-old had doped. He told Herald Scotland: "The thing with doping in rugby is that it goes on, I know it goes on. "I hadn't really thought about it that much before Sam's case but then I began asking some people about the stuff that Sam had taken and they seemed to say that it was very common. "I suspect that many people take this steroid because they want the gains," he added. "So I think I'm much more aware now of what's happening and what's going on in the game. I've become a lot more aware of the issue because of Sam." While Chalmers Sr says his son is fully responsible for his suspension, he hat been extremely critical of the union's handling of it, saying they should have reached out to the player for information, rather than casting him aside. "To be fair, Melrose have been pretty supportive but they can only do so much. Scottish Rugby have shown no support at all," he said. "There's not been any kind of attempt to try to find out why Sam did it and that disappoints me a lot because he's young, he made a mistake and I think that if I were the head of a sport in a country and I'd seen what Sam had done, I'd be wanting to know why, and what made him do it." Hat tip - Herald Scotland