Second chance for marijuana man?
Japan coach John Kirwan believes banned Brave Blossom Christian Loamanu deserves a “second chance” to play at this year’s World Cup, despite an indefinite ban he earned for marijuana use.
Kirwan, an All Black legend, asked the Japan Rugby Football Union earlier this week to allow the Tongan-born wing, 24, to join his squad for the World Cup in New Zealand in September and October.
Loamanu won 16 caps for Japan and played at the 2007 World Cup, but was sacked from Japanese side Toshiba Brave Lupus in February 2009 and banned by the union after two doping tests revealed traces of cannabis.
The 108-kilogramme player has since resurrected his career with Toulon in the French Top 14.
“Christian is a game-winner and someone who can do something really special,” Kirwan said in an interview with the Daily Yomiuri published Friday.
“I talked with him a few weeks after his test and he admitted he had been hanging around with people he shouldn’t have been,” Kirwan said.
“He was very remorseful, so I decided to help and arranged for him to go to Toulon, where he has done very well.
“I believe rugby is a game that is supposed to help people and I think he deserves a second chance,” said 46-year-old Kirwan, who became Japan coach ahead of the 2007 World Cup in France.
He has been asked to make a formal application to the national rugby union’s executive committee in March for Loamanu’s ban to be lifted.
“If they really believe he shouldn’t play for Japan then I will accept that,” Kirwan said.
The union’s chairman, Nobby Mashimo, told reporters earlier this week that it would be “difficult to bring him [Loamanu] back after the decision has already been made on this case.”
One unnamed union executive told Kyodo news agency that the request would “be firmly shot down.”
The Daily Yomiuri said the lifetime ban on Loamanu appears severe when compared with the suspensions usually handed out by the International Rugby Board.
In 2009, the game’s governing body handed out a four-month ban to a Georgian player and a six-month suspension to a Canadian following positive tests for cannabis, the daily said.
England prop Matt Stevens returned to the field last month after serving a two-year suspension for cocaine abuse, it added.
Japan adopts a tough stance on drug use and possession of cannabis can mean up to seven years in prison.
AFP
