Team doctor 'gave players drugs'

'The problem is not Berbizier but doping which, I repeat, has existed in rugby non-stop since then (the Seventies), as it has in all other sports. I crack up when I hear officials, players and trainers say they are utterly flabbergasted on hearing about this matter.

'The moment there is competition, there are those who cheat, who try to get round the rules. Moreover, what is being said about rugby today is what one heard in cycling a few years ago.' The French allegations will increase RFU vigilance over the intensity of its anti-doping campaign, based around random testing of players at all levels and conducted both in and out of season.

Terry Burwell, the Union's director of Twickenham Operations, said: 'Anything which tarnishes the image of the sport is a matter of concern to us. We will support any investigation which the French authorities deem appropriate.

'There is absolutely no evidence of drug abuse in the English game. We have worked very hard to maintain a clean image but there will be no complacency. There will always be someone in the sport who could cause a potential problem and we shall continue to be vigilant. We have increased the number of tests we do through UK Sport year on year and are in the process of sending out a poster to all clubs itemising banned substances. We shall continue to raise the profile significantly.'

The RFU is also preparing to take pre-emptive action aimed at curbing fears of referees and touch judges being subjected to the sort of abuse which has become the norm for their soccer counterparts.

The problem is already driving officials out of the game at the rate of almost one thousand a year and Nick Bunting, the RFU's national referee development officer, said: 'Abuse is drifting into the sport. We need to recognise that and deal with it before it gets out of hand.'

RFU chairman Brian Baister's claim that the protracted row over how many go up and down from the Premiership to the Second Division is close to being resolved has been refuted by the clubs.

Baister is preparing to call an emergency meeting of the RFU's management board tomorrow but the clubs say that, while some progress has been made, 'there is no sign of white smoke'.