The case of Frankie Sheahan, the Munster hooker who has been charged by ERC of a doping offence following the Heineken Cup semi-final between Toulouse and Munster on 26 April, 2003, will be heard by an independent Judicial Tribunal in Dublin on Monday (7 July, 2003).

The Munster and Ireland player has insisted that the positive test arose because of an oversight on his part in failing to declare that he was taking medication because he is an asthma sufferer.

Frankie has used an inhaler since his early teenage years and has been filling in forms to state that case throughout his career.

''Apparently, I did not tick off the appropriate box to show I have a medical need to use Ventolin, which contains Salbutamol, because of asthma, which all my medical records show," said Sheahan last month.

''Ventolin is not a forbidden substance and it is simply a technicality of having it declared on the form".

Analysis by the IOC-accredited laboratory in Paris of the B sample given by the player has confirmed the presence of Salbutamol, as initially indicated by the A sample analysis. Salbutamol is a Prohibited Substance under the IOC List of Prohibited Substances and Prohibited Methods, upon which the ERC anti-doping programme is based. The three-man independent Judicial Tribunal which will hear the charge against the player will be Professor Lorne Crerar (Chairman), Dr Donald MacLeod and Peter Brown. The hearing will be conducted at the ERC offices in Dublin.