TONY Copsey is part of top-level panel aiming to clamp down on drugs in rugby following events at Premiership rivals Bath.

England forward Matt Stevens quit the club in January after being handed a two-year ban for using recreational drugs.

Four more players quit the Recreation Ground a fortnight ago after refusing on three occasions to take a drugs test after an end-of-season party. They now face an RFU disciplinary panel charged with conduct prejudicial to the interests of the game.

Copsey, chief executive at Wasps, said: “There is no space for drugs in sport. The World Anti Doping Agency (WADA) runs a very tight drug-testing policy, that’s peformance-enhancing drugs as well as illicit drugs, so there is a very established programme already in place.

“What we’re looking to do is support that and bolster it even further.

“We don’t need to get carried away. Rugby doesn’t have a problem, there’s no doubt about that, but we’re turning our minds to the future and I think it would be naive of us to think drugs couldn’t become part of the sport.

“We just want to make sure we head that off at the pass.”

Copsey’s panel has been in place for a while and includes representatives from all the Guinness Premiership clubs. After revelations from Bath, recent meetings have focussed on tighter rules.

He said: “We’re discussing a more robust drugs policy going forward. The process is quite well advanced and we’ll be making recommendations.

“As a group of 12 we are stronger than individuals. These things take great resources and as 12 clubs together I think we can develop things.”

However, one plank of their work that is not part of WADA is a focus on education, and Copsey believes prevention is better than cure.

He said: “With WADA it’s very much a case of ‘you’re caught, you’re banned’.

“Where we’re coming from it is keeping that deterrent of more testing and more banning if required, but also up-front education and support because there is a lot of evidence that recreational drugs are a spur of the moment decision with people not really thinking about the ramifications.

“Matt Stevens is a classic example of a young player, very talented, who strayed down the wrong path. We’re not being naive and thinking that might not happen to another player.

“If you go to school these days you will get exposed to drug education and we sometimes forget that young players need that education as well.”