THE FRENCH RUGBY union team was a vast consumer of amphetamines in the 1980s — including in a famous win over the All Blacks – according to a new book.
“They each had their little pill in front of their plates for the meal before the match,” French team doctor of the time, Jacques Mombet, is quoted as saying in the book.
Mombet said the drug taking was most obvious when France played New Zealand at Nantes in 1986, in a match called ‘the battle of Nantes’ for its ferocity which resulted in All Black legend Wayne Shelford being knocked out and losing several teeth in the process, and beat the All Blacks 16-3.
“The Blacks realised that their opponents, unrecognisable from the previous week, were loaded,” Mombet said in the book by investigative journalist Pierre Ballester.
France’s rugby establishment did not immediately react to the allegations.
Ballester wrote a 2004 book on disgraced cycling champion Lance Armstrong in which he was among the first to publicly make drug allegations against the seven-time Tour de France champion.
His rugby book, “Rugby a Charges, l’enquete choc” (The case against rugby) is released in France on 5 March.
As if the Sky Spots subscription couldn’t get any better, they go and roll out this beauty! You’ve got Netball, Horse AND Water Polo, Badminton Super League, Horse Eventing, and now the Chinese Premiership? Where will it end in this Sporting Universe? The European Dodgeball Champions League?
In fairness the European Dodgeball league would be entertaining!!
They have live fishing aswell
Ahh lads, the pinnacle of Sky Sports broadcasting is Pro Kabaddi!! You won’t see action like that on any other channel!!
No, the pinnacle is the ridiculous Legends Indoor Football League they show every summer. Just a load of ex cloggers playing a game of slow five a side. The decision to go 24 hours with Sky Sports in 1995 was a joke.
Funny you mention dodgeball Dave :) https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=uWII-zlVZI4
And don’t forget the 5 D’s of Dodgeball – Dodge, Duck, Dip, Dive, and …. Dodge!
Don’t forget Pro Karbaddi League in India
Are you on a 24 tape delay Ollie? :P
*24 hour*
I dream of a world where The Journal/The 42 has an edit button…
I’d rather watch MLS and that’s shíte
How do you know it’s shxte? You’ve never watched it!
Well you will have 2 good foreign players per team and 9 chinese lads , what ya think it will be??
As if we didn’t have enough money grabbing mercenaries getting air time,this Chinese league is the greatest circus of all
Sky Sports are a bigger shower of eejits for jumping on this ridiculous bandwagon.
Great spot to offload all those money grabbing rejects.
@Gerry
Be honest,you’d grab it yourself if you could.
Would of course
Ill I need is enough money to pay for family and tax and a little bit more and Ill be grand :)
Shanghai Greenland? Seriously?
Ho lee fuk!
The Chinese , great bunch of lads.. love a good kung po but can the play ball?
“Hulk and Gervinho”…doesn’t exactly get the heart racing, does it?
Joke of a league why did sky sports even bother get this. They should have took a punt at the league of ireland instead of that
The League of Ireland is crap.
Sky are probably getting paid by the Chinese to show the games as opposed to buying the rights. China seems hell bent on promoting their league.
Imagine an organisation being ‘hell bent’ on promoting and selling there own product!! The cheek of them.
Can’t wait boys
God you guys don’t understand sarcasm
If the time zone isn’t crazy different I might watch it.
Wouldn’t pick the boys in Fifa never mind watching them in real life