Former Harlequins and Rotherham centre Jason Keyter, now with Esher, has been banned from playing for one year after testing positive for the banned stimulant cocaine.

Keyter, who represented the USA in the 2003 World Cup, pleaded guilty to a RFU disciplinary panel after testing positive following the National Division Two match between Esher and Moseley on October 22, 2005.

But Esher manager David Page said the club is unlikely to turn their backs on Keyter because he was the victim of a prank in which his drink was spiked at a West End nightclub.

Page explained: "The club has a no tolerance policy on drugs and if we thought Jason had taken the substance deliberately we would not accept him as a member again. But we are supporting him because we believe he would never knowingly have taken a derivative of cocaine.

"He went to a club in the West End with a work colleague and got talking to some people who bought him a drink called a Shambles consisting of champagne, Red Bull and vodka. The drink was spiked and the next day, a Thursday, Jason felt awful, but managed to train.

"He played against Moseley on the Saturday and struggled so much we almost took him off. Afterwards he was one of two players from each side to be given a random drugs test."

Keyter, having left Quins in the summer of 2000 to join Rotherham, has only been at Esher since the start of the present season.

* Full rugby round-up in the Richmond & Twickenham Times.