Springbok winger Aphiwe Dyantyi will know the result of his appeal against a doping ban in “the next few weeks” the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (Saids) has revealed.

Dyantyi tested positive for three banned steroidal substances last year following a test done at a Springbok Rugby Championship camp in Pretoria, which came back with an adverse finding on 2 July.

The positive test made international headlines, as Dyantyi was at the time the World Rugby Breakthrough Player-of-the-Year and was trying to recover from a hip injury ahead of the Rugby World Cup in Japan.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Saids confirmed that Dyantyi’s hearing was over and that all the evidence presented by his team will now be reviewed before a final decision is made. 

“The hearing into the doping charges against Springbok rugby player, Aphiwe Dyantyi, concluded after two days of testimonies by expert witnesses and closing arguments from both the athlete and prosecution,” read the statement.

“The athlete was charged with a doping violation in August 2019. The independent panel will now deliberate on the evidence and render a decision within the next few weeks.”

In an exclusive interview with Sport24, Dyantyi detailed the personal trials he went through during the more than 12 months since the positive results surfaced.

“My family didn’t see me and I was probably holed up in the house for two months,” he said in August.

“I didn’t have social media in those quiet months – I just deleted everything. You go on your phone and it’s Aphiwe this, Springbok that, World Cup this and at some point, I just couldn’t deal with it. It just got too much.

“It was a way for me to try protect myself. That could have driven me to do anything … the worst. I withdrew because I felt that if there’s any chance of me surviving, I just needed to be by myself.”

– Compiled by Sport24 staff