A Manawatu representative rugby player has been handed a two-year ban from the sport after a positive test for methamphetamine.
Aroha Nuku, who played for the Manawatu Cyclones in last year's Farah Palmer Cup, tested positive for the substance after the side's match against Waikato in September, and testing of the 'B Sample' confirmed the finding.
Nuku told the New Zealand Rugby Committee she took a white powder she believed was Ritalin in order to stay awake on a late night drive from Palmerston North to her home in Opunake, Taranaki, earlier in the week.
Drug Free Sport New Zealand noted in Nuku's hearing that she had attended a mandatory DFSNZ seminar earlier that season and, on the night she was drug tested, she declared the use of two supplements and hay fever tablets, but did not declare the use of Ritalin earlier that week.
Methamphetamine and amphetamine are non-specified substances prohibited in-competition under S6a (Stimulants) of the Prohibited List 2017.