Rugby: It sounds like Mains stirring on drugs

By Wynne Gray

Up and under

When Laurie Mains coached the All Blacks to South Africa he urged extensive investigations of the drugs-in-rugby culture in the republic.

Mains stirred the issue hard, cajoling journalists in New Zealand to speak to former All Blacks living in South Africa like Dr Laurie Knight and Don Clarke to pressure medical authorities there to test their players.

Mains himself was reluctant to comment publicly about performance-enhancing drugs in South Africa but privately he was very loud in his accusations and condemnation. He wanted the media to fight his campaign.

Without doubt there was a battle to be waged as shown by some positive tests for steroids this decade in South Africa. Further confirmation came this week with revelations by former Springbok skipper Francois Pienaar about his own drug-taking and the scene in South Africa.

Mains felt it more appropriate for the NZRFU to criticise the South African drug scene rather than join the debate himself. It was a shade timid for such an outspoken character.

And Mains repeated that cowardly act this week when he claimed leading New Zealand players in the late 1980s and early 90s took illegal performance-enhancing drugs.

There were always suspicions about some players in the New Zealand scene but none ever tested positive during that time. Either they were very skilled at missing detection or did not take anything.

Only two players have tested positive in the past decade - an Otago sevens player, and former All Black Walter Little who took a painkiller for toothache, a substance which has been removed from the banned list.

In making his drug claims about New Zealanders, Mains has delivered many doubts about his own credibility. If he knew of drug-taking what did he do about the problem? Did he pick players he knew were using illegal substances?

Without being specific, Mains has maligned many rugby players. It will make for an interesting homecoming when he tours with the Golden Cats in Super 12 next season.

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EXCLUSIVE: Jonah Lomu has been asked to head the New Zealand security forces during Apec. He has also been asked asked to bat No 3 for the Black Caps when he joins the cricket tour in India after the World Cup.

When he gets back from that he has been asked to steer the Titahi Bay boat in the national surf lifesaving championships before ducking off to the world hang-gliding championships in Malta and then heading home to be Santa at the Manukau Mall.

Lomu is news without doubt, but sometimes the proliferation of stories leaves me with huge sympathy for him and his rumbustious manager Phil Kingsley Jones.

They are inundated with offers, many worthy, some fatuous, most probably a distraction for Lomu and his main occupation of being a professional rugby player.

Leaks about many other schemes, I would think, only serve to distract Lomu and the public from his current rugby goals. His tender achilles tendon, his NZRFU contract, his aim to get a starting place at the World Cupthose issues would seem more important.

But, then again, where do you get tickets for the next Winter Olympics so I can watch Jonah sleigh them?