Ken Borland

The fact that his previous two-year ban for doping has now been quadrupled to eight years for his next offence is something Chiliboy Ralepelle’s lawyers believe is grounds for an appeal, but the former Springbok hooker’s career is almost certainly over after the South African Institute for Drugs-Free Sport’s independent doping tribunal announced another guilty verdict on Wednesday.

The 33-year-old tested positive for the growth hormone Zeranol while with the Sharks in January 2019. It was his second doping offence after being banned for two years in September 2015 for use of an anabolic steroid, Drostanolone, while recovering from injury in France.

Ralepelle has actually tested positive on three occasions, with his initial brush with the law coming in 2010 when he and wing Bjorn Basson were found to have the banned stimulant methylhexaneamine in their systems after the Springboks had played Ireland in Dublin on an end-of-year tour. But they were only given a reprimand when a judicial hearing found that it was not their fault because it came from a tainted supplement provided by the South African Rugby Union.

So it seems Ralepelle’s legal team are set to argue that it is only his second doping offence.

“We have concluded that there are definitely grounds for appeal, but we are creatures of instruction and we will take those instructions from Ralepelle on how he wants to proceed. We are preparing an opinion for Ralepelle on whether, solely from a legal perspective, he should appeal.

“There is one example: Chiliboy was previously banned for two years and the WADA laws say that the second offence must be double the standard for the first offence. In that respect, from our legal view, from a two-year previous ban, it should have been a four-year ban at best and not an eight-year ban. But we are still considering the contents of the judgement,” legal representative Hendrik Hugo told ENCA on Wednesday.

A four-year ban for a second offence involving serious drugs would appear to be a light punishment, however, given that some first-time offenders, such as Welshman Owen Morgan in 2017, have been given four-year sentences.

Springbok wing Aphiwe Dyantyi is facing a four-year ban himself after testing positive for three different steroids last year. According to SAIDS, a virtual hearing to the 25-year-old’s case should be held in the next two months.

At the other end of the spectrum, former Swansea hooker Dean Colclough was banned for eight years in 2014 for possessing and distributing steroids.

Graeme Smith has agreed to a two-year contract to continue as full-time Director of Cricket, Cricket South Africa are set to announce on Friday.

South Africa’s most successful captain was appointed to the post of interim director of cricket in December to see the Proteas out of the crisis – caused by the fall of former chief executive Thabang Moroe and numerous staff suspensions at CSA – and through the summer.

Smith has managed to get on-field operations on to something of an even keel and said at the end of last month that he was keen to sink his teeth into making the structural changes necessary to restore the national team’s reputation as one of the world’s best teams and fix CSA’s pipeline at all levels.

“I feel we have a really strong and exciting season coming up and now it’s about looking at the seasons to follow. I’m busier now than I was before the Lockdown – looking at new content, but it needs to be financially viable; trying to improve our women’s team even more and looking at them in exactly the same light as the men’s game; advertising for both women’s and U19 coaches, as well as the convenor of selectors, and just trying to ensure effective, high-quality cricket bearing in mind the sponsorship situation and the TV rights market.

“I’ve been in the job for such a short space of time but there have been important learnings. I’m probably in a good place now to implement the ideas I have in terms of contracting and getting all our teams to perform well across the board. Hopefully we’ll have a really successful team at the 20/20 world cup. We’re also going into a new financial year so I hope to improve some of those aspects as well,” Smith said.

One of the most important issues Smith will have to deal with ahead of the 2020/21 season is what to do with the 17 Kolpak players who have signed to play in England this year.

Because of Brexit, all Kolpak contracts will be terminated at the end of the year. Judging by the news coming out of England earlier this year, it is probable that the counties will, however, be allowed to play two overseas players, which would make some of those Kolpaks eligible for new contracts. Whether the counties will be able to afford two overseas players though remains to be seen after the crippling effects of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Either way, England are going to ‘deport’ several players back to South Africa and Smith needs to strategise how best to get them back into the system.

Once Kolpak is scrapped on January 1, 2021, those players also all become eligible for the Proteas again and Smith will have to handle the hot potato of balancing the renewed availability of some elite cricketers who would certainly add value to the national team with the undeniable ill-will that exists towards players who have ‘deserted’ their homeland by taking the skills that were honed locally to foreign shores for great riches.

Q: What were the reasons for your decision to join Bayonne on a two-year contract?

TvJ – It was a good opportunity for me to get a start in France and I’m looking forward to learning a lot there, especially with Yannick Bru, the former France hooker who has been coaching at Toulose, now in charge at Bayonne. We learn from each other in this game and in France there are different focus points, like the scrum and set-pieces, they are more technical there, while in South Africa we are concentrating more on playing quicker rugby. The biggest thing is that you still need the hard buggers up front to do the hard work in France, and that’s what makes their rugby so competitive. I’m definitely looking at really improving my play as a tight forward over there.

Q: Having been born in Namibia and playing most of your rugby with the Mpumalanga Pumas and the Free State Cheetahs, are you looking forward to the change of culture that you will experience in south-west France?

TvJ – Yes, my parents still farm in Namibia and it’s obviously a very different lifestyle there. But I’m looking forward to living in France, I’m going to learn the language and it’s a new culture. I love a good braai [barbecue] and my Namibia team-mate PJ van Lill tells me that they still do a lot of braaing in Bayonne! That’s how you bond, especially as tight forwards. So I’m looking forward to socialising, having a few beers with mates, and hopefully doing a bit of hunting as well.

Q: Although you were born in Namibia, your education was in South Africa. Tell us about your journey as a professional rugby player?

TvJ – After school in Pretoria, I was at the academy at the University of Pretoria for one-and-a-half years, playing for the first XV and studying sports science, but then I got into pro rugby with the Pumas. That was hard graft because they are a small union, and now I’ve had five good years at the Free State Cheetahs. They have treated me really well but now it is time to move on to my next chapter.

Q: Having impressed in South African rugby and playing for a South African Barbarians side, were you tempted to try and play for the Springboks rather than your native Namibia?

TvJ – It’s always a difficult decision whether to play for Namibia or wait for South Africa to select you, which you can never be sure is going to happen. I felt I was banging on the door for four or five years but I was never invited to any Springbok camp or anything. So in 2014 I accepted a call-up from Namibia and it was an amazing experience to play for them in the 2015 World Cup, especially to play against the All Blacks. Just to gain that experience at that level was fantastic.

Q: How are Namibia’s prospects looking going into the build-up for the Gold Cup, which is Africa’s qualifier for the 2019 World Cup in Japan?

TvJ – The boys are looking really well, there are more and more Namibian-born players in the Varsity Cup, so things are brewing there. We’re definitely able to qualify for the World Cup again, if we work hard and have our best talent available. We’re looking strong. Unfortunately I won’t be playing in the Gold Cup because I have a lot of admin to do for my move to France and I’ve also been playing one-and-a-half years of continuous, extremely tough rugby, so I need a break before I start in France in July. But I will be available for the two Namibia Tests in August.

Q: Your one-and-a-half years of continuous rugby is because the Free State Cheetahs went straight from SuperRugby into the Currie Cup and then into the Pro14; how different is the Pro14 to playing in SuperRugby?

TvJ – The Pro14 is more technical, there’s a lot more focus on your exit game. It’s more like Test rugby in terms of structure and teams don’t take so many risks, you don’t see sides running the ball out of their 22 as an exit play so often, they would much rather kick. So there’s more of a Test mindset in Pro14 and sometimes the weather plays a role in that as well. But it’s been fun, even getting stuck in the mud sometimes!

Q: That sounds like the sort of rugby made for big, heavy tight forwards but do you think being a mobile hooker who has also played flank will be an advantage for you?

TvJ – Yes, I also had offers from Scotland but I believe playing in France will be a bigger grower of my career. It will be good to play in wet weather, in France they have very big packs and heavy runners and it will be good to see if I can play against that. PJ van Lill is also a heavyweight and he’s done okay!

Sharks hooker Chiliboy Ralepelle’s return to rugby has not been greeted with universal acclaim following his two-year ban for doping, but those who are unwilling to forgive the former Toulouse player should perhaps consider the case of high-riding Lions coach Johan Ackermann.

The former Springbok lock is just about the most popular figure in South African rugby at the moment because of the inspirational job he has done in taking the Lions from the wilderness three years ago and into this weekend’s SuperRugby playoffs, but he too was banned for two years in 1997 for nandrolone use.

Ackermann then made his return to the playing field and even returned to Test rugby in 2001. He made a second comeback in 2006, becoming the oldest player to represent the Springboks at 37 years and 34 days against Australia in July 2007 in Sydney. That record was subsequently broken last year by former Toulon star Victor Matfield, when he captained South Africa to the bronze medal in the World Cup playoff against Argentina aged 38 years and 172 days.

Interestingly, Ackermann and Ralepelle actually appeared in a Test together, back in November 2006 when the Springboks beat England 25-14 at Twickenham. Ackermann started in the number four jersey, while Ralepelle came off the bench to replace captain John Smit.

Those were the days when Ralepelle was a 20-year-old prospect, who was fast-tracked due to political pressure to include more Black African players in the Springbok team, a dozen years after Apartheid had ended. The next week, Ralepelle was named to captain the team against a World XV in Leicester, becoming not only the youngest player to captain the national team but also the first Black. Those of a more cynical disposition were sure coach Jake White, now with Montpellier, was making a statement aimed at the politicians more than anything else.

Ralepelle is not quite 30, so who knows what lies further down the road for him; perhaps he too could make an international comeback. But he is not keen to speak about the past and his indiscretion with drostanolone, an anabolic steroid popular with bodybuilders.

“I’m living a new chapter now, in a new environment. I’m excited and it’s just fantastic to be back playing rugby. I want to seize the opportunity to play the game I love,” Ralepelle told Midi Olympique this week.

Apart from the feeling that he was a political pawn, fast-tracked for reasons of window-dressing, Ralepelle has also had rotten luck with knee injuries.

One game into the 2007 SuperRugby season with the Bulls, he suffered a serious knee injury, which he injured again in the warm-ups for the 2008 campaign. He suffered further knee injuries in 2012 and in 2014 after just 16 matches for Toulouse.

Both the Bulls, based in Pretoria on the South African Highveld, and Toulouse are inland teams and, having served his ban, Ralepelle is now happy down on the coast in Durban, on the Indian Ocean.

“Durban is a lovely city, it has the best weather you could ask for, I can go to the beach any time I like!

“I had wonderful days in Pretoria, it’s where I grew up and first made my mark, and I also had a great time in France. I made great friends there, it’s a good environment and Toulouse is a great team, the home of rugby in France. It was a great opportunity and a great place to play, and I miss the culture and values of that team,” Ralepelle said.

But the Sharks have given Ralepelle a lifeline when perhaps nobody else would, thanks to Smit, who was the CEO when the hooker was signed last November, and director of rugby Gary Gold. It is not the first time the 2007 World Cup winning captain has aided Ralepelle.

Smit contributed some of the school fees to enable Ralepelle to study at Pretoria Boys’ High, which he himself attended.

Ralepelle is determined to be the author of his own success now and has clearly been working hard off the field, given the lean and mean physique he has been sporting during SuperRugby this season.

“It’s been great to get a few games under the belt and I can still improve, which is exciting. Every day I’m striving just to be more on top of my game. It’s a matter of time and it gets easier playing week in, week out. I’m not yet where I should be, but in the mean time I just want to give more and more of a contribution to the team.

“It’s important that I don’t put my body under pressure, so I worked hard before the season just to keep up with the pace of SuperRugby. I worked hard on my conditioning and I am a little lighter, which helps me to move around the park more. I can have an impact that way, it’s not just about strength because if you’re blowing after five or 10 minutes you’re not going to have much strength anyway,” Ralepelle said.

While French rugby still involves plenty of driving play and is extremely physical, SuperRugby is changing, according to Ralepelle, who returned to the Southern Hemisphere competition in April after three years away.

“There’s been a big change, mostly because of the laws. With the speed of the game, players really need to be fitter and stronger. It’s an amazing competition,” Ralepelle said.

How fortunes change in rugby is also amazing and, if Ralepelle, who remains both mobile and good in the loose as well as proficient in the set-pieces, needs any encouragement, he only needs to look at how Johan Ackermann has not only restored his reputation but has grown it exponentially.