Another doping case hits South Africa as prop cops heavy ban
The South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) has handed another young South African rugby player a lengthy ban after he tested positive for a prohibited substance.
Former SA Schools prop Deon Botes returned a positive doping test for 19-norandrosterone and 19-noretiocholanolone, metabolites of nandrolone (an anabolic androgenic steroid in section S1 of the WADA Prohibited List).
As a result, Botes has been banned from rugby for four years.
Botes, who matriculated from Afrikaanse Hoër Seunskool (Affie) in 2025, was tested while representing the Blue Bulls at the U18 Craven Week in Mpumalanga last year at Hoërskool Middelburg.
He went on to represent the SA Schools ‘A’ team during the U18 International Series.
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“The Athlete did not dispute the laboratory finding or pursue any substantive challenge to the integrity of the sample collection and analysis,” said a SAIDS report obtained by Rugby365.
“The principal issues are whether he established how the prohibited substance entered his system, whether the violation was not intentional, and the resulting period of Ineligibility.”
After his initial sample returned positive, Botes requested a B-sample to be tested, and it confirmed the A-sample results.
SAIDS says it received the results on October 2 and notified Botes the following day.
His then legal representatives responded to SAIDS on October 24, and the Drug watchdog issued the notice of charge on November 14.
The official hearing was held on 11 June 2026 to determine whether both parties pleaded their respective cases.
According to the report, Botes argued that he had used a product labelled “Testojoint” for shoulder pain and recovery.
The report also states that his father had bought several bottles for cash from an “unidentified salesperson outside a pharmacy”.
There was no receipt, identifiable manufacturer, batch number or expiry date. The container was described as a vitamin or joint supplement and bore the words “Ultimate Test Booster”.
“In the written response supplied before the hearing, the Athlete [Botes] said that he began using Testojoint in April 2025,” the report elaborated.
“He increased use during June to approximately three to five capsules per week, usually took one capsule in the evening, and last used it in the final week of June. Testojoint was not recorded on the Doping Control Form.12.”
It was also revealed at the hearing that Botes might have travelled to the Craven Week with a pillbox containing the Testojoint pills.
He took supplements from the pillbox packed by his mother on the evening of July 4, the morning of July 5 and the evening of July 6, 2025 before testing on July 7.
“The Athlete denied deliberate doping. He relied on his shoulder complaint, his long-standing rugby participation, the fact that he had already signed a Sharks contract, and the absence of any rational reason to risk that future.
“The Panel accepts that the Athlete and his family gave their evidence sincerely and made substantial efforts to identify an innocent explanation.
“Those matters are relevant to the Panel’s assessment of the Athlete’s credibility and his case on non-intent, but they do not establish how the prohibited substance entered his system.”
SAIDS said the four-year ban is treated as having commenced on August 25, 2025 and will expire at midnight on August 24, 2029.
He becomes the second junior player to be banned this year after Wits loose forward Liam Santos copped a three-year ban.
Meanwhile, Junior Springboks’ prop Kai Pratt is reportedly still waiting for his B-sample to be tested after he also tested positive for a prohibited substance in April.
