Springboks accused of cheating their way to World Cup wins

By Dylan Bettencourt

• The South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport rugby tests dropped from 785 in 2015 to 127 in 2024, as South Africa leads global rugby doping violations.

• World Rugby says Springbok players are tested all year round, including out-of-competition home visits, by several anti-doping agencies worldwide.

The Daily Telegraph has questioned whether the Springboks’ back-to-back Rugby World Cup victories are linked to a drop in drug testing in South Africa.

The paper reported that the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (Saids) carried out 785 rugby tests in 2015. By 2024, that number had fallen to 127. The Telegraph also noted that South Africa has 89 doping violations in rugby, about 20% of the global total.

But critics say the story misses key facts.

More than a dozen Springbok squad members play club rugby in France, England, Japan and Ireland.

Players like Thomas du Toit, at Bath, and Damian de Allende, in Japan, are tested year-round by UK Anti-Doping, French anti-doping authorities and Japan’s own controllers. Even locally based players in the United Rugby Championship face testing from UK and French anti-doping agencies.

World Rugby confirmed that South African players are in their testing pool. “Our out-of-competition testing includes home visits,” a World Rugby spokesperson said, Daily Maverick reported.

The drop in local tests comes down to government failures, analysts say. In 2024, the Bloemfontein testing laboratory lost its World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) accreditation. Saids now sends samples to labs in Qatar or Belgium at a far higher cost.

Saids received a baseline grant of R31-million for 2025/26, but the cost of overseas testing means that money does not go far enough.

The one Springbok squad member flagged in recent years is prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye. He declared a medication containing a banned substance on a form after a specialist prescribed it. His doping test came back negative. Ntlabakanye is playing for the Lions in the United Rugby Championship and is not suspended.

Pictured above: Springbok players in training.

Image source: File