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A Bristol Bears player was banned for four years
World Rugby have confirmed that former Bristol Bears lock Chris Vui was banned for four years due to failing an out-of-competition drugs test, according to Bristol Live.
The 33-year-old has not played professional rugby since September 2023 when he was captain of Samoa at the Rugby World Cup.
Vui was also a key player for Bristol with his athleticism and lineout prowess a key part of Pat Lam’s game plan having made 101 appearances for the Gallagher Prem club.
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World Rugby have revealed Vui was banned because the drug test found 19-norandrosterone in a urine sample, which, in elevated levels, above 2 ng per ml of urine, indicates the use of the anabolic steroid nandrolone.
This is a steroid which enhances performance by helping to build muscle mass.
According to Bristol Live when they asked the Bears why Vui had disappeared without explanation they said it was due to a private family issue.
Vui contested contested the ban with World Rugby and took his case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in January 2026.
According to the CAS report Vui took a urine sample on August 1, 2023 during a pre World Cup training camp with Samoa.
The sample was sent to the WADA-accredited Sports Medicine Research and Testing Laboratory in Utah, the United States of America.
The A Sample was analysed between 25 August 2023 and 25 September 2023, and on 26 September 2023.
This is when 19-norandrosterone was found in his system.
According to the CAS hearing Vui’s sample testing had an estimated concentration of 7.8 ng/mL, nearly four times the legal limit.
As a result Vui was provisionally banned by World Rugby on September 27, 2023 while on April 10, 2025 the World Rugby Judicial Committee found the player had committed an Anti-Doping Rule Violation.
He received a four-year ban which was backdated to September 27, 2023.
But Vui’s legal team raised procedural complaints regarding the testing claiming that its independent expert, Dr Catalani, had been unable to to monitor every stage of the B Sample testing and that there was a conflict of interest in the lab’s director Dr Daniel Eichner, being a member of World Rugby’s Anti-Doping Advisory Committee.
But the World Rugby Judicial Committee ruled that Vui’s claim was ‘too speculative and too lacking in hard evidence’.
Despite Vui’s legal team submitting the results of a polygraph test which strongly indicated he was unaware of taking a banned substance along with strong character references and the players record of nine negative drug tests over the past seven years CAS upheld World Rugby’s decision.
According to Bristol Live a World Rugby spokesman confirmed the delay in publishing the results of the drugs ban was due to circumstances outside of the governing bodies control.
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