The 22-year-old Namibian rugby player Gerhard Opperman has been banned for three years until the end of 2024 for an anti-doping rule violation.

“I made a mistake while I was struggling with a shoulder injury, but that is not really an excuse. I regret my actions and offer my apologies to my family and to the national rugby union,” Opperman told Namibia Media Holdings yesterday.

“Rugby is my passion and it is quite sad that I crashed one of my dreams in this way – to put myself in contention for inclusion in a World Cup squad.”

Loss of control

Opperman, a former Namibia under-20 player, made his senior test debut off the bench last November when he replaced tighthead prop Aranos Coetzee against Kenya during the World Rugby Stellenbosch Challenge. Six days later, he was in the starting line-up when Namibia convincingly beat Zimbabwe as well.

During this tournament Opperman underwent an in-competition doping control, which returned a positive result for Metandienone (an anabolic steroid) and Tamoxifen (a metabolic and hormone suppressor). Both substances are listed on the World Anti-Doping Agency prohibited list.

The player did not have a therapeutic-use exemption and later offered an explanation where he admitted having knowingly ingested both substances.

Regulation 21.10.8.1 gave Opperman the option to admit the violation and to accept the asserted ban within 20 days of receiving notice of the anti-doping rule violation charge in exchange for the reduction of the four-year ban to three years.

• At the same November tournament, Zimbabwe flyhalf Dudlee White-Sharpley also tested positive for the use of Boldenone, 19-norandrosterone, Nandrolone and Tamoxifen. The same regulation for early admission and acceptance of sanction was applied in reducing White-Sharpley’s ban from four years to three years.