Former All Blacks great Dan Carter has spoken of his disappointment at having to defend himself "when you've done nothing wrong."
Carter, along with Racing 92 teammates Joe Rokocoko and Juan Imhoff, have been cleared of anti-doping breaches by the French Rugby Federation.
A report had claimed traces of steroids showed up in drugs tests taken by the trio following last season's Top 14 final in Barcelona.
French sports newspaper L'Equipe had reported that "traces of corticosteroids" - which are used to help reduce inflammation - were found in the urine samples given by the Racing players to the French anti-doping agency.
Carter, Rokocoko and Imhoff maintained their innocence throughout and were defended by their club, whose position has been vindicated by the FFR's verdict.
Speaking to the Le Monde newspaper on Wednesday, Carter said: "We knew we had done nothing wrong. We knew that was going to be the answer.
"I guess the process has been a little bit disappointing, how it's been dragged out through the media.
"It's been tough because there's been confidential information being leaked. It's disappointing to have to try and defend yourself when you've done nothing wrong."
Carter reiterated his stance that he holds rugby's integrity highly and wouldn't do anything intentional to bring it into disrepute.
He explained he suffered from inflammation in his knee in the Top 14 semi-final against Clermont a week before the decider.
"When you have an injury, you take procedures to cure that injury, within the anti-doping regulations, of course," he said.
"I had the injection. I rested for two days. And then after that rest I was fit to play, and I played. And I can't see a problem with that because that's all within the regulations. When you have an injury, you get your injury cured.
"I'm not sure what the debate is. I was a little surprised at the amount of media created."
NZN