He’s no cheat: Agent defends All Black star Dan Carter after he fails drugs test

The agent for All Blacks legend Dan Carter has rejected any implication his client was a drug cheat on Friday, after reports that he tested positive for steroids. Simon Porter said the 34-year-old had a therapeutic use exemption allowing him to use the corticosteroid medication. “We were reassured that there was nothing to worry about, that there was no wrongdoing, that there was no case to answer for,” he said after Carter and team-mates Joe Rokocoko and Juan Imhoff tested positive following a game in France. “It’s just a therapeutic use, cortisone is a common drug used to treat pain and inflammation.”

The boys had been told that they had nothing to worry about. They’re not enjoying the attention but they’re pretty relaxed about it all because they’re confident that everything is in order and everything is fine

Players’ agent Simon Porter

Carter, widely regarded as the best fly-half ever, earned 112 caps and won two World Cups with the New Zealanders, racking up a record 1,598 Test points. He was one of three players who reportedly failed a drug test after their club Racing 92 beat Toulon in the French Top 14 final in Barcelona in June. Carter, a sporting icon in New Zealand, was recovering from a calf injury ahead of the Top 14 final, while Rokocoko – a winger who represented New Zealand in 68 Tests – had a knee problem. The drugs scandal blew up a day after All Black scrum-half Aaron Smith admitted a recent toilet tryst with a mystery woman at a busy airport in Christchurch was a “huge mistake”.