Chiliboy 'tested positive for steroids two months ago'

Springbok hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle has been preparing his defence against a positive drugs test for steroids for the last two months.

According to French newspaper Midi Olympique, Ralepelle, who joined French club side Toulouse at the beginning of the recently concluded Top 14 season, has armed himself with a South African lawyer the paper could not identify.

Ralepelle was tested on March 19, which was 26 days after undergoing surgery for the knee injury which ended his season, having been put on a list of foreign players to be tested in the league at the beginning of the season. The former Bulls player tested positive for the anabolic steroid Drostanolone.

The 27-year-old's French agent, Damien Dussault, told the paper that there was a possibility that the anaesthetist at Ralepelle's knee surgery could have injected the player with the steroid.

But Christian Bagatte, the chairman of the medical commission of the French Rugby Union, said it would have been a big mistake on the anaesthetist's part as everyone would have been aware that, as a big-name rugby player, Ralepelle could test positive for the steroid.

Dussault said Ralepelle would not comment for the time being to focus on his defence. The date of the hearing has yet to be decided.

Drostanolone, which has the trade name Masteron, is said to be used by body builders as it aids muscle hardness without adding mass.

It's not the first time Ralepelle has tested positive for drugs. He and fellow Springbok Bjorn Basson were stood down from the Boks' end-of-year tour of 2010 for testing positive for the stimulant methylhexanamine.

They were given light sentences as the positive tests were put down to contaminated supplements.

Ralepelle's South African agent, Gerrie Swart, was unavailable for comment, while the South African Rugby Union declined to comment as the player is no longer contracted with them.