Progress made in Dyantyi and Ralepelle doping tribunals

Springboks Aphiwe Dyantyi and Chiliboy Ralepelle are likely to learn what sanction they will face, for positive doping tests, in January.

Hearings looking into the Bok pairings separate infringements have been conducted by the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS).

Both players tested positive for banned substances during the course of the 2019 season.

Early in 2019, before the start of the Super Rugby season, Ralepelle, who has previous doping infringements on his record tested positive for the drug Zeranol which is used to increase muscle mass in livestock. The substance is on the WADA and SAIDS banned lists. He has now tested positive for banned substances three times, and it might be safe to assume his professional rugby career is over.

Dyantyi who missed the entire 2019 season with injury tested positive for a cocktail of performance-enhancing substances when samples were taken at a Springbok training camp. Metandienone, methyltestosterone and LGD-4033 were present in Dyantyi’s A-sample and despite his firm denials were also found in his B-sample. Dyantyi had been set for a comeback late in the year but was placed on provisional suspension when the test results were released.

Khalid Galant, CEO of SAIDS, told members of the press that a judgement in both cases was expected in January.

Doping in SA sport

SAIDS annual report revealed that it tested 1,584 athletes during 2018/19 year and there were 47 anti-doping rule violations (ADRVs), and three additional cases pending. The anti-doping body conducted less tests than the year before but said this was an ongoing trend as their test distribution plan becomes increasingly targeted and risk-based, rather than random.

“The most tested sport during 2018/19 was athletics with 427, followed by rugby with 342. Rugby had the most ADRVs with 16 – including six schoolboys who were among those tested at the annual Craven Week interprovincial rugby tournament. All six boys tested positive for anabolic steroids. Their names have not been made public as they are minors,” a press release from SAIDS read.

Galant expressed concern at the number of ADRVs at schoolboy-level and pointed to a high tolerance by parents and coaches to doping practice at the time. Former Irish international Neil Francis sensationally claimed that SA Rugby has a steroid-culture in the week after the Springboks lifted the Rugby World Cup. 

SAIDS have outlined their Clean School Sport Policy, under the terms of which “anti-doping detection, deterrence and prevention strategies will be extended to include in-competition testing at selected school sports events and tournaments.”