The HSBC Wellington Sevens, round three of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, saw a first for World Rugby’s anti-doping programme, with testing services at the tournament provided through a unique partnership between World Rugby, Drug Free Sport New Zealand (DFSNZ) and the Oceania Regional Anti-Doping Organisation (ORADO).  

In order to help facilitate practical training opportunities for ORADO doping control officers, three representatives – one each from Samoa, Fiji and New Caledonia – were invited by World Rugby to work with the Drug Free Sport New Zealand doping control team over the two days of the tournament.

The partnership shows World Rugby’s commitment to support ORADO and the World Anti-Doping Agency's (WADA) work in furthering the quality of anti-doping programmes in the Oceania region, and to ensuring the best possible delivery of testing processes.   

World Rugby Anti-Doping General Manager Mike Earl said: “The partnership was a great success and is a practical example of how the international anti-doping network can combine to best support development, with an international federation such as World Rugby working with an established National Anti-Doping Agency (NADO) and ORADO to increase the range of experience for doping control officers. 

“The high quality of the ORADO staff was testimony to the work that ORADO, WADA and the NADOs of neighbouring countries have already conducted to date, and we hope that this initiative will have made a contribution which will benefit not just rugby union, but the wider sporting world.”

Jude Ellis, Programme Director – Testing and Investigations at Drug Free Sport New Zealand, added: “DFSNZ welcomes any opportunity to collaborate with our Pacific Island neighbours. Working with doping control officers from another country at the Wellington Sevens provided a good learning experience for our personnel also.”

For more information on World Rugby's anti-doping programme, visit keeprugbyclean.com.