Welsh man here. Love rugby. Absolutely love it. And you nailed it, bro. It's the worst / best kept secret in the sporting world. The boys take their PED when they're in school and lower club level, they put on two stone of sheer muscle they wouldn't ordinarily put on, then go out into the pro world. And sure, they all say they're not on anything, but that's just bollocks. It's embarrassingly obvious to anyone who understands working out, but the vast majority of ordinary folk just think "oh, they're big men alright", and that's it.
I can't believe PED's aren't taken more seriously in rugby. Jonah Lomu had clear acromegaly (enlargement of the skull) from his GH use and who knows what else he was on. The problem with sports like rugby with large player bases is that its extremely expensive to test a single person for all the compounds one could be using. For sports like boxing and MMA its easier because every person is technically a single contractor. There's no way for any testing agency to be able to keep up with all the rugby players, too many would slip through the cracks. I'm not a biased South African, I can think of a few of our guys who may have been on something.
Totally agree. These players now are now so bulked up. Weight lifters/body builder physiques who can run for 80 mins! All natural!! The fat free mass index used to indicate steroid use in weight lifters etc is a good reference point. A lot of rugby players would be identified as potential users as well.
