Ronan O’Gara ‘rattled’ by accusations against Racing players

‘If I believed that there were unsporting practices accepted here, I’d be out the door in the morning’

Ronan O’Gara: ‘I have been rattled by the accusation because there’s a presumption that anything goes in Racing’. Photograph:  Dan Sheridan/Inpho
Ronan O’Gara: ‘I have been rattled by the accusation because there’s a presumption that anything goes in Racing’. Photograph: Dan Sheridan/Inpho

Ronan O'Gara has strongly rejected impropriety on the part of Racing 92 in relation to doping test anomalies with regard to three of their players, Dan Carter, Joe Rokocoko and Juan Imhoff following the Top 14 final win last June.

The Parisian club released a statement in which they asserted that the trio did not need Therapeutic Use Exemptions (TUE) for corticoids or corticosteroids administered to reduce inflammation to the respective injuries ahead of the final.

Speaking in the Sunday Independent, O’Gara explained: “I have been in the meetings and I am fully aware of exactly what’s gone on. There were three readings showing a corticoid and the readings are extremely low. And if you have an explanation as to why you administered them then it’s a non-story.

“Everyone on the winning team is tested. I have been rattled by the accusation because there’s a presumption that anything goes in Racing, and a bunch of cheats won a final. So if you take pride in your work that’s a massive attack on your character, and what you stand for.

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“If I believed that there were unsporting practices accepted here, I’d be out the door in the morning.”

John O'Sullivan

John O'Sullivan

John O'Sullivan is an Irish Times sports writer