 Stevens is not allowed to play or coach rugby union for two years
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England and Bath prop Matt Stevens has been banned from rugby union for two years after testing positive for cocaine following a game in December.
Analysis of the sample Stevens provided following Bath's Heineken Cup game against Glasgow showed the presence of illegal substances.
After testing positive the 26-year-old confessed to having problems with a "very serious substance".
Stevens will be allowed to resume his career on 19 January 2011.
European Rugby Cup (ERC), the organisers of the Heineken Cup, said Stevens's sample "had contained benzoylecgonine and methylecgonine, which are metabolites of cocaine".
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ERC added: "Cocaine is a stimulant and is a prohibited substance for the purposes of in-competition testing under the 2008-09 Heineken Cup Anti-Doping Programme and under IRB Regulation 21 and Wada's World Anti-Doping Code.
"This was Mr Stevens' first anti-doping rule violation and the judicial committee accordingly imposed the prescribed sanction of a two-year period of ineligibility from all rugby playing and rugby related activities dated from 19 January, 2009, up to and including 18 January, 2011."
Stevens was automatically suspended as soon as his positive test was revealed and was immediately withdrawn from England's squad for the Six Nations.
He made his debut for England against New Zealand in 2004 and has gone on to win 32 caps.
Bath have announced they will be holding an internal hearing with the South Africa-born player before making any further statement on the matter.
After his "A" sample tested positive Stevens turned down the chance to have his "B" sample tested, but he requested a hearing by a judicial committee in order to determine whether there had been a violation of the anti-doping regulations.
In 2006 Australia winger Wendell Sailor was handed a two-year ban after testing positive for a recreational drug, while in December Manchester prop Marshall Gadd was also suspended for two years after taking a banned substance.
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