http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/league/3401969/League-stalwart-banned-10-ye...

A New Zealand Residents rugby league international banned for 10 years for a third anti-doping code breach has said he was unable to stop smoking cannabis despite two previous penalties.

Canterbury Bulls prop Vince Whare, 32, escaped a potential lifetime ban after testing positive to cannabis after a national provincial premiership match against Taranaki last September.

Whare – a 101-game veteran who was voted Canterbury's players' player of the year – was unavailable for comment last night.

But the Sports Tribunal, which imposed the penalty this week, stated in its decision he had told them he had been "unable to curb an addiction to cannabis despite my trying on many occasions without success".

He said he was "deeply remorseful" that his rugby league achievements over the past 20 years had been "undermined by my off-field antics over the past five years".

Whare, a former New Zealand Residents representative, gave evidence he had used cannabis recreationally, not to enhance his performance. He said he had had "a few puffs" in a social setting about 10 days before he tested positive in Taranaki.

However, the tribunal noted the level of cannabis in his test sample seemed "consistent with a regular user".

It also noted his assertion of addiction was not supported by any evidence, in fact his evidence was "to the contrary". It could not be regarded as demonstrating a "lesser degree of fault".

The tribunal noted it had warned and fined Whare after he tested positive to cannabis in 2005. But he was back before the tribunal in 2006 for a similar offence and was suspended for two years.

That ban ended at the end of 2008. Whare helped Canterbury win the national final last year – a few weeks after his positive test in Taranaki. He played on with a deep gash to a head wound and earned selection in the New Zealand Residents team.

The tribunal remarked Whare had "fine personal qualities" and it was "not surprising that we apprehend his regret and distress at what this means for his family, himself, his teams and his club."

Bulls coach Brent Stuart said in a testimonial to the tribunal that Whare's work etiquette on and off the field was "second to none" and he was "one of the first to visit children suffering from cancer in hospital".

Whare's Riccarton Knights club also produced a testimonial describing him as "an amiable individual who will do anything for anybody, especially for his peers".