Plymouth Albion player Russell Thompson has been hit with a two-year suspension after testing positive for a banned substance.

A urine sample provided by 25-year-old Thompson following Plymouth's National League Two game at Rosslyn Park last month was found to contain the banned substance 19-norandrostenedione.

Tests conducted on three other players proved negative.

New Zealander Thompson appeared before a five-man Rugby Football Union disciplinary tribunal in London.

He was accompanied by Plymouth's chairman of rugby, the former Bath and England hooker Graham Dawe.

Thompson, whose ban takes immediate effect, admitted the offence.

He told the tribunal that he had ordered a muscle-building product through an advert in International Rugby News magazine.

Thompson, a centre who has played first team rugby for Plymouth throughout the past two seasons, said he had intended to purchase Norateen Heavyweight II, but was supplied with Norateen instead.

He didn't check the product or ingredients before taking two tablets a day for five days leading up to, and including, the day of the match against Rosslyn Park on March 9.

Thompson claimed it was only after he tested positive that he realised his mistake and that the product he had taken contained a banned substance.

In a letter to the tribunal, Thompson said he had been naive and stupid, and was sucked in by clever advertising.

He disclosed taking the tablets when tested. Dawe said that he felt the player had made a genuine mistake, and added in a letter Plymouth supported the RFU's anti-doping strategy.

The tribunal said it had carefully considered comments made in mitigation by Thompson and Dawe, on his behalf, and statements of regret and apology in Thompson's letter.

"However, the tribunal had to take full notice of the serious nature of the offence, namely, the presence of an anabolic androgenic steroid in the player's body, as confirmed in the positive test, which recorded a significant level of 19-norandrostenedione," said the RFU, in a statement.

"While the tribunal had considered that the period of suspension could be more than two years, it decided that a ban of two years, being the minimum International Rugby Board (IRB) sentence under the regulations (and there was no discretion to impose less) was sufficient.

"Accordingly, Russell Thompson was banned from all rugby involvement for a period of two years with effect from April 18, 2002."

He was also ordered to pay £100 costs.

At the end of the hearing, the tribunal expressed its concern about the presence of advertisements, such as that produced by Thompson, in rugby magazines, and that it would be investigating them and their "undesirability" in the future.