Rory O'Connor

It's not just about the pro game either.

The rewards for being a first-team player in Division 1A or 1B of the All-Ireland League are very... There's other rewards.

The clubs will get you jobs.

They'll look after you in a career.

Some, I believe, or certainly there's a lot of talk that there's under-the-counter payment at that level as well.

So staying in the first team or being a first-team player...

has value beyond getting a Leinster, Munster, Ulster or Connacht contract.

So there are incentives to be a very good rugby player at that level without needing to it.

And the safety element is the other part because there are, I'm sure, hundreds of those players turning up every week, not doping.

But going out there, tackling and running into players who potentially are cheating.

So if people are cheating at that level, it becomes a player safety issue as well, which I think should always underpin rugby.

If a weightlifter is doping, he's cheating his opponent, but he's not necessarily endangering his opponent.

If a rugby player is doping, he's running into his opponent on a regular basis and using the physical gains that he or she has made.

And...

you know, I'm potentially endangering the person that they're running into or tackling.

So I think that should always be at the core of what the RFU, what Sport Ireland and whoever's kind of responsible for this as well.

So I think that that needs to be looked at.

And I think the RFU should be putting pressure on Sport Ireland to do more in the interest of transparency and also saying, because they used to say that a zero tolerance approach to sport

to doping and that was held against them during the gerbrand groveler saga all those years ago i don't see that word as much when i look at their website but they do have very strong messages on their site about anti-doping so i hope they're living that as well

It is.