As he did throughout his career, Brian O’Driscoll popped up this week as a kind of people’s champion. Taking drugs such as Difene, co-codamol or caffeine is not illegal and does not breach any laws of anti-doping. But in a report in The Irish Times in September of this year it was described as the anti-inflammatory anti-hero. Whether inadvertently, or deliberately, O’Driscoll has done rugby a service in raising the issue of whether his use of Difene makes drug taking permissible. O’Driscoll’s truthful account clearly opens up a can of worms for rugby.

Source: The Irish Times December 07, 2018 06:01 UTC