De Villiers cries innocence over failed drugs test

French prop breaks down and claims drink was spiked after being dropped from team to face England in Six Nations' opener

Tough guys cry like the rest of us. Pieter de Villiers, widely considered the most disciplined and conscientious member of a brilliant young French team and often described as the best tight-head prop in the game, wept openly last night as he contemplated the wreckage of his Six Nations' Championship ambitions – and, quite possibly, of his World Cup aspirations as well – after testing positive for two so-called "recreational" drugs, cocaine and ecstasy.

De Villiers protested his innocence, but he has already been dropped from the match against England at Twickenham on Saturday week.

Bernard Laporte, the outstanding French national coach who has transformed Les Bleus from a profligate and self-destructive collection of flamboyant individuals into a fiercely committed professional outfit with genuine World Cup chances later this year, made that much clear within minutes of being told of the developments.

"I know Pieter," he said. "I am sure this behaviour is not part of his mentality, and I know he will tell me the truth when I see him. But it would be wrong for him to play against England. It would not be in the spirit of rugby."

Laporte is a cerebral and philosophical sort, but he was shaken to the core by the news of De Villiers' alleged excesses. Not half as shaken as the accused, though.

"I have always been honest with my sport," De Villiers said in Paris yesterday evening. "I don't know how the traces got into my body. My mind boggles. I can't sleep, I can't eat. I am asking myself thousands of questions. I have had many random, controlled drug tests, both with my club and the national team, and have never tested positive. I live my passion for rugby, and I do not take drugs."

De Villiers was one of 13 Stade Français players given on-the-spot tests by French Ministry of Sport officials on 18 December, four days after the Parisian club's home victory over Harlequins in the last 16 of the Parker Pen Challenge Cup.

The 30-year-old prop, who co-owns a bar in the city with his friend and front-row colleague, Sylvain Marconnet, admitted that he and other players "drank a lot" after the match and recalled feeling unwell during the evening.

"I took a taxi home, where I was violently sick and developed an awful headache," he said. "The symptoms were particularly bad. I had never experienced anything like it before, despite having been to several after-match parties with my team-mates. Maybe I was trapped."

Should a second test confirm the findings of the first – the results may not be known for a fortnight – and the South African-born player fails to provide a convincing explanation, he could be banned for an unlimited period by the International Rugby Board.

That prospect was not something Laporte was willing to contemplate yesterday. While the coach agreed that the loss of his protégé, whom he coached at Stade Français before succeeding Jean-Claude Skrela as national coach, would undermine his side's chances against England, he was far more concerned with getting to the bottom of an episode that has left the French rugby community mystified and upset.

"Do I feel let down? Pieter has let himself down, it seems," Laporte said. "This is less important than war, you know... less important than Iraq. But there are rules in life, and if he has broken them, he must be punished. He has had his troubles" – a reference to the player's recent marital problems – "and I must find out the nature of this thing. No, I did not imagine that he could be capable of this. But a man is a man. The important thing is to set an example to our young people and act responsibly towards the game of rugby."

Born into a farming family in the Boland area of the Western Cape, De Villiers won under-21 honours for Western Province and played student rugby for Stellenbosch University. He was lured to France by Stade Français officials visiting South Africa for the 1995 World Cup, was granted citizenship in 1999 and won the first of his 29 caps against Wales that year. Christian Califano, the former Toulouse prop now playing for Saracens, is a clear favourite to replace him at Twickenham.

"My first reaction is one of surprise," said Martin Johnson, the England captain, at yesterday's Six Nations launch. "All I know about De Villiers is that he's a world-class forward."

The England manager, Clive Woodward, described the affair as "a shame for the sport" and, after confirming that his own tight-head specialists, Phil Vickery and Julian White, would almost certainly miss the Twickenham fixture through injury, added: "God, it's been a bad week for props."