The South Africa internationals Chiliboy Ralepelle and Bjorn Basson will have their disciplinary hearings for failing a drugs test during last month's tour of the home unions held in South Africa in the new year.

The pair faced having to return to Dublin for a hearing convened by the Six Nations committee after testing positive for a banned stimulant, methylhexaneamine, following the victory over Ireland. Both their B and A samples tested positive.

However, because they agreed not to contest the testing procedures or related matters under the 2010 autumn internationals anti-doping programme, the investigation and hearing will be conducted in South Africa, rather than Ireland.

The South African Rugby Union said that investigations were still taking place, primarily over how the stimulant was taken by the players. It added it would assemble a tribunal in the new year, by which time methylhexaneamine will have been downgraded as a banned substance, giving the disciplinary panel discretion.

It will have a range of punishments to choose from should the pair be found guilty, up to a maximum ban of two years, whereas until next month a 24-month suspension is obligatory unless a player is able to prove that he took a banned substance unwittingly. A ban of up to three months is likely if the contention of the players that they have no idea how the stimulant came into their systems is accepted.