Welsh halfback Rhys Webb. Photo: PHOTOSPORT
Former Wales test halfback Rhys Webb has been banned for four years by the French Anti-Doping Agency.
Webb was suspended soon after joining second tier French side Biarritz last summer after returning a positive test for human growth hormone (HGH) during a training session.
Both A and B samples came back positive.
Webb will now be ineligible to play until 2027, meaning he will be 38 by the time the ban runs it course.
Biarritz have been asked to comment.
Webb's international debut came in 2012 and he was selected for the 2017 British and Irish Lions tour to New Zealand, playing in two tests.
Webb won 40 caps for Wales before announcing his international retirement in the build-up to the 2023 Rugby World Cup.
The move away from Wales saw him become the highest profile victim of the Welsh Rugby Union's previous 60-cap rule.
Webb left his second season at Toulon early after agreeing to re-join Ospreys in December 2019 and went on to surpass 200 appearances for the Welsh region.
This story was first published by the BBC.