Rugby: Former Springbok Aphiwe Dyantyi reportedly set to appeal doping ban after guilty plea

Aphiwe Dyantyi celebrates a try for the Springboks in 2018. Photo / Photosport

Former Springbok Aphiwe Dyantyi has reportedly opted to appeal a four-year ban after earlier pleading guilty to doping.

The South African winger tested positive for three banned substances following a team training camp on the eve of the 2019 Rugby World Cup and was subsequently punished by the SA Institute for Drug-free Sport (SAIDS) after a panel ruled he could not prove he had taken the drugs accidentally.

"The three-person panel accepted the guilty plea of the athlete to the doping charge," SAIDS said in a statement on December 14, 2020.

"They found that the athlete had failed to satisfy the burden of proof to establish that his positive dope test was not intentional.

"The Panel relied on the framework for sanctions in the World Anti-Doping Code that outlined a sanction of four years for the doping offence in this matter."

However, Dyantyi had 21 days following the ruling to lodge an appeal and according to SA Rugby mag, he has opted to do so.

Dyantyi's agent, Gert van der Merwe, has always remained adamant that the ban "makes no sense".

In December, Van Der Merwe told the Rapport that while an appeal is possible: "the problem is that there are costs associated with it".

Dyantyi has effectively been banned from participating in sport from 13 August 2019 – when he was provisionally suspended – to 12 August 2023 and so has not earned a salary from rugby for the past 18 months.

The Lions player won the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year in 2018 after impressing in his debut season for the Springboks including two tries in a 36-34 win over the All Blacks in Wellington.