Video. Christophe Urios (Clermont): “I don’t want to do this, because I don’t believe in it” regarding drug checks

“I prefer that we drink kava, at least it’s not forbidden (laughs)!” No matter the question, Christophe Urios always has the art of repartee. Twenty-four hours before the third day of Top 14, where Clermont will host Bayonne (Saturday, 4:30 p.m.), the ASM manager spoke out following the recent measures taken by certain clubs, including Aviron, to carry out drug detection checks. Racing 92 and Union Bordeaux-Bègles have also made this choice to combat this scourge that is affecting more and more professional rugby players. “We just have to take measures and we will take them., Laurent Marti had explained for South West. It is legally regulated but we offered the players to undergo tests carried out by random draw. We told the players: be careful, there is a scourge, we don’t want it in our sport, so we are making sure that you are more closely monitored.”

In Clermont, the staff and the management have not yet committed to this path, as Christophe Urios explains. “This (the controls) will not prevent abuses. We can see this clearly with the example of the car. I think we have to ensure that we support, control everything that we can control, and ensure that the guys are responsible. I think that this is the way we operate rather than, every Monday morning, taking six players for screening… I don’t want to do that, personally, because I don’t believe in it.”

Mola: “We should not carry out cocaine tests to give ourselves a clear conscience”

At the beginning of September, on the eve of the resumption of the Top 14, Ugo Mola had already delivered an analysis similar to that of his Clermont counterpart.. Asked about the same subject, the Toulouse technician had notably declared that he “You shouldn’t do cocaine tests to make yourself feel better.” On the side of the French Rugby Federation, Florian Grill announced “an action plan” last July from October to fight and eradicate this scourge. “We are talking often cocaine for a party. The juxtaposition of these two words is terrible. Cocaine is not a party drug. It is deadly. We will facilitate SO the controls of the French Anti-Doping Agency”.