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Dewi Morris feels any rugby players caught using drugs should be banned for life

Image: Dewi Morris - ban drug cheats for life

Dewi Morris understands the pressure on young rugby players to use drugs but says any who do so should be banned for life.

Rugby league lost a player to a two-year suspension this week when Featherstone Rovers’ James Lockwood tested positive for using growth hormones.

The issues in union, Morris feels, are more concentrated to younger players who are rising through academies and feel they need to add extra bulk in a sport where senior players are increasing in size and speed every season.

But while the Sky Sports pundit accepts that young players are under a growing pressure to be bigger and stronger, he firmly believes life bans are the only solution.

“It’s probably the pressure that’s on them to become a specific size in the gym, how much weight they can push and how fast they can go,” he said.

“With the pressures there are today I’m not surprised (it happens) but they know the parameters and they know the pitfalls if they are caught. You should have a life ban, it’s as simple as that.

“If you’re stupid enough to run the risk of doing it then you deserve to be banned for life.

“There needs to be more impetus on the skills side. I don’t think big is predominantly beautiful anymore - you want players who can move around the field.

“I’m talking about lads who are 15, 16, 17, who maybe think they need to be a second faster or have a few more pounds to go into the tackle with if they are going to be given a contract somewhere.

“You need to have good coaching and good nurturing and people need to be educated about the problems and the price they have to pay.”

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