Springboks: Rugby World Cup winner learns his fate after failed drugs test
Springbok wing Sbu Nkosi.
Former Springbok speedster Sbu Nkosi has received a lengthy suspension from World Rugby after testing positive for the use of a banned substance earlier this year.
According to a report in Sunday newspaper Rapport, the game’s governing body has suspended the 2019 Rugby World Cup winner for three years.
This, after the 28-year-old’s sample showed traces of an anabolic steroid used especially by muscle builders and he will reportedly serve his suspension retroactively from July 16 this year.
Chances are slim that he will play for the Springboks again
That means that Nkosi will already be 31 by the time he will be allowed to return to action following his suspension which means his chances of representing South Africa at Test level will be very slim.
Nkosi made 16 Test appearances for South Africa between 2018 and 2021, scoring nine tries, and was part of the Springboks’ squad which won the 2019 Rugby World Cup in Japan.
The 28-year-old, who previously had stints at the Bulls and Sharks, joined the Cheetahs on a one-year-deal in March.
Nkosi has been in the news in recent years due to his struggles with mental health issues.
Springboks: World Cup winner’s career in tatters ahead of doping ban
In December 2022 – during his time at the Bulls – he was reported missing after going AWOL for three weeks. He was later found at his father’s house in eMalahleni, Mpumalanga.
After taking a break from rugby, Nkosi returned to action with the Pretoria-based outfit in a URC defeat to the Stormers at Loftus Versfeld in Pretoria in February last year.
Did not reach his full potential at the Bulls
He did not reach his full potential though and in May 2023 the Bulls allowed him to represent the Barbarians in London where he scored a brace of tries in their 48-42 victory over a World XV.
However, he then compiled a social media post that was widely interpreted as criticism aimed at the Bulls.
“It was reviving to my passion, to spend a mere week with men who are pure of heart. A break from being judged by men who are bigger in their minds than they are in reality,” Nkosi wrote on his Instagram profile.
Not long after that, he parted ways with the Bulls by mutual consent despite being midway through a two-year contract but then received a lifeline from his former Springbok team-mate Frans Steyn, who is now the Cheetahs director of rugby.
