No knowledge of ‘French doping’

PARIS - Agnece Frence-Presse

(L-R) Chief Executive Officer of Fitness First and England Rugby 2015 Chairman, Andy Cosslett, England Rugby 2015 Chief Executive, Debbie Jevans, Rugby World Cup Limited Chairman, Bernard Lapasset, International Rugby Board (IRB) CEO and Rugby World Cup Limited (RWCL) Managing Director, Brett Gosper and former England captain Lawrence Dallaglio attend a press conference to launch the venues and schedule for the 2015 Rugby World Cup at Twickenham Stadium in west London, on May 2, 2013. AFP photo

Former French federation head and current International Rugby Board (IRB) president, Bernard Lapasset, on May 31 denied any knowledge of doping in the France national rugby union team.

Ex-France prop Laurent Benezech, speaking at a French Senate inquiry on May 30, continued to make controversial claims about doping in rugby.

Benezech said he had a “strong inclination” that he was given doping products during the 1995 World Cup in South Africa, where France reached the semi-finals before losing narrowly to the hosts. He also said any decision to push doping would not have occurred without the say-so of then-France coach Pierre Berbizier and ex-French federation boss Lapasset. But Lapasset, speaking in Saint-Petersburg, demanded that Benezech showed proof. “I ask him to express himself more precisely in the way he says he knows things, more than just approximations like ‘they said’ or ‘maybe’ and which does not really correspond to what I expect from a player who talks about this subject,” he said.