When he burst onto the scene back in 2006, captaining the Springboks against a World XV on the end of year tour at the age of 20, Chiliboy Ralepelle was hailed as the next big thing.

Ever since then, his career has been something of a rollercoaster, dogged by positive doping tests along the way.

Last week, news broke that Ralepelle had tested positive for a banned substance for a third time, in a random doping test carried out on January 17 at Kings Park Stadium in Durban.

He has previously tested positive for methylhexanamine in 2010 whilst on Bok duty, although it was later found that the traces came from supplements given to the players by the Bok medical staff.

Both Chiliboy and teammate Bjorn Basson, who also tested positive, were cleared of any wrongdoing, so you can scratch that one off the list.

No excuse needed.

Then, in 2014, he was hit with a two-year ban when he tested positive for drostanolone, an anabolic steroid. He initially opted to appeal the ban, but then later dropped that appeal.

He has been accused of taking the steroid to speed up his recovery from an ACL injury.

All of this means that the general public is a little wary of Chiliboy’s reasoning for the latest test, with Sport24 reporting:

This time, though, Ralepelle insists he has done nothing wrong.

Speaking on Tuesday night on respected sports broadcaster Robert Marawa’s radio show, Marawa Sport Worldwide, Ralepelle said the substance that had been found in his system was Zenarol and that it was perfectly legal.

Zenarol is a growth aid for livestock.

“The Sharks have come out and said they are willing to support me as far as they are able to,” Ralepelle said.

“Once you know you’re not guilty of anything, you’re at peace with yourself.

“I know I did not take anything to the detriment of my career. I got offered a three-year contract at the Sharks and I asked for a six-month contract, because I have other plans.”

I don’t know what those “other plans” are, but I’m intrigued.

According to the Citizen, Chiliboy added that “he’s been taking Zenarol as part of a broader fitness regime following a two-year ban in 2014 for using the anabolic steroid drostanolone”.

“After the incident in 2014, I had to adjust my diet,” he told the show.

“Meat is something I tried to cut out of my diet.”

Not sure that’s going to endear him to his fellow front rowers, who are notoriously heavy meat consumers.

The sad thing about testing positive again, whether there was foul play or not, is that you’re not getting the benefit of the doubt.

Many early reports on the latest incident initially stated that he had tested positive for steroids, which is not the case, but he’s lost the faith of the rugby fraternity.

As things stand, both SA Rugby and the Sharks Rugby Union have remained quiet in public, and there may be testing taking place on a B-sample as part of the regular judicial process.

Whatever the finding, I can’t see Chiliboy bouncing back from this one without his reputation being further sullied.

[source:sport24&citizen]