World Rugby and the World Anti-Doping Agency uncover anti-doping violations made by six Georgian men’s players; South African players also under scrutiny
Last week, a major joint-investigation conducted by World Rugby and the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) – coined Operation Obsidian – resulted in anti-doping violations (ADRVs) being confirmed against six players from the Georgian men’s team, alongside one of the team’s support personnel.
The initial investigation, which launched in 2023, was triggered by irregularities in urine samples found by World Rugby’s passport management programme before the Men’s 2023 Rugby World Cup in France.
Working together through complex parallel investigations, World Rugby and WADA used targeted player testing and DNA analysis on historic samples held by World Rugby’s long-term storage platform.
“Operation Obsidian highlights the complex nature of sample substitution cases, from the legal, investigative, scientific, and forensic points of view, which require extensive expertise to successfully reveal and corroborate. Substantial investigative powers are essential to address this type of ADRV properly and effectively,” said Günter Younger, WADA Director, Intelligence & Investigations.
WADA President, Witold Bańka, added: “What has been happening in Georgian rugby is outrageous and will send shockwaves through Georgian sport and government, as well as the global game of rugby.
“I want to thank WADA’s independent Intelligence & Investigations team for their diligence and expertise in relentlessly pursuing this operation with determination and professionalism. I also praise World Rugby’s commitment to uncovering the facts and its willingness to work collaboratively with WADA to deliver this strong result for rugby.
“This is not the end of the story as further investigation is now going on deeper into Georgian sport. WADA has brought Operation Obsidian’s findings to the attention of the Government of Georgia to address the issues in the Georgian Anti-Doping Agency.
“As the next steps are being considered, clearly, WADA has lost confidence in GADA’s anti-doping program and wholesale changes must now be made by the relevant authorities.”
Could doping scandal extend beyond Georgian team?
The Georgian case is not the only question mark hanging over national anti-doping infrastructure in world rugby.
A recent investigation conducted by Telegraph Sport found the number of drug tests carried out on rugby players in South Africa by the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) fell from 785 in 2015 to just 127 in 2024, a drop of more than sixfold.
The decline coincided with the Springboks winning back-to-back World Cups in 2019 and 2023. Over the same period, UK Anti-Doping increased its rugby testing from 998 to 1,241. SAIDS CEO Khalid Galant attributed the slump to the suspension of Africa’s only WADA-accredited laboratory in March 2024, which had its right to analyse samples revoked entirely in May last year following repeated non-conformities – itself a second sanction, having previously been suspended between 2016 and 2018.
This earlier suspension coincided with a two-thirds fall in testing volumes. The loss of the Bloemfontein lab has forced SAIDS to send samples to Doha or Gent at greater cost, while its government grant has remained, in Galant’s words, “fairly static”.
While a drop in testing alone is not proof of wrongdoing, South Africa already holds the highest number of convicted dopers in rugby with 89 total violations, accounting for around 20% of all reported cases worldwide.
Two players from the squad that won the 2019 World Cup, S’busiso Nkosi and Elton Jantjies, were banned for three and four years respectively in 2024 for doping violations.
Prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye is also facing two doping charges after failing a drugs test last year, with a hearing expected at the end of this month. He has not been provisionally suspended and has denied any wrongdoing.
