Springbok and Lions prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye faces wait until April for doping outcome

Springbok and Lions prop Asenathi Ntlabakanye has had his day in court seven months after testing positive for a banned substance. Still, he faces an agonising month-long wait to hear the verdict of a complex case.

The hearing began in Johannesburg last week, with Ntlabakanye taking a break from United Rugby Championship duty with the Lions to explain his side of the story. On the one hand, the case is about the buck stopping with the sportsman, but on the other, it concerns the liability of a medical professional prescribing medication to a trusting patient.

An outcome was expected on Monday, but the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) told Independent Media that this will not happen.

“The hearing is in progress, there is a pause right now, and closing arguments are scheduled for the last week of April,” said SAIDS CEO Khalid Galant.

In August last year, Ntlabakanye tested positive for the non-performance-enhancing banned substance Anastrozole, which is primarily used in the treatment of breast cancer. The issue with this drug is that it blocks estrogen and can combat the side effects of anabolic steroids.

The reason why Ntlabakanye was prescribed this drug will have emerged at the hearing. But there is more to the unique case than this.

When SAIDS did their routine testing with the Lions, Ntlabakanye innocently raised a red flag when filling out a declaration form before the testing. He wrote that he had taken Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), a substance regarded as performance-enhancing and strictly off-limits to athletes.

Almost bizarrely, and muddying the waters in this case, Ntlabakanye did not test positive for DHEA, despite admitting on official documentation he had taken it.

As it stands, a positive DHEA test results in a four-year ban, while the less serious Anastrozole comes with a two-year suspension. Moreover, Ntlabakanye has been allowed to continue playing because it was the non-performance-enhancing Anastrozole that SAIDS found in his system.

The Lions, meanwhile, have taken precautions in case there is bad news for Ntlabakanye at the end of April — they have signed former Junior Springbok prop Corne Weilbach.

Coach Ivan van Rooyen recently said, “We believe and hope for the best for Asenathi. If it doesn’t turn out that way … that is one of the reasons why (Weilbach) joined us recently.”

The Lions will enjoy a fortnight off due not playing in EPCR club competition over the next two weeks. Their next match is a URC clash against former champions Glasgow Warriors on April 18.