Bath, the club that recently sacked its ­England prop Matt Stevens for ­taking cocaine, tonight announced that three senior players including their joint ­captains, Michael Lipman and Alex ­Crockett, had resigned from the club after allegedly failing to take drugs tests.

According to a brief club statement, ­Lipman, a flanker who has played 10 times for England, Crockett, a local boy who played 16 times for Bath this season and has also appeared for England Saxons, and Andrew Higgins, a regular at either centre or on the wing, tendered their resignations immediately before club disciplinary hearings were due to take place. It said: "Michael Lipman, Alex Crockett and Andrew Higgins had been required to appear at an internal disciplinary hearing today to address the failure on three occasions to take a drugs test following allegations surrounding player conduct on Sunday 10 May."

Those allegations involved fighting at a boozy end-of-season bash in London and reports that players had subsequently ducked drugs tests, an accusation denied by a lawyer representing the three players, but one which the Rugby Football Union warned that it was likely to take further.

Coming so soon after the Stevens affair, in which the 26-year-old was banned for two years, the club has been rocked by allegations that might suggest a cultural problem, a suggestion their newest international, Matt Banahan, tried to dispel last week when suggesting the club's image was in need of repair. "Celebrity status is a tough thing and there is pressure on people in all sports but it is how you deal with it," said the 22-year-old.

The trio issued a statement denying they had refused to take the tests."It has been suggested in sections of the media that we have refused to provide samples for anti-doping purposes, but this is untrue. Anonymous sources have also made allegations against us to the club. We completely refute these allegations, which are both false and defamatory."

The RFU said it would investigate the behaviour of the three players. "The RFU takes any breaches of discipline and any drugs-related allegations very seriously and we have now asked Bath Rugby for all the paperwork associated with their investigation and will be taking our own additional statements," it said.

"The RFU disciplinary manager [Bruce Rees-Russell] will review all the information before deciding if there is a broader charge for these players to answer under Rule 5.12 for any conduct that is prejudicial to the interests of the game.

"We would expect to complete the RFU investigation within seven days and will update on next steps at that time."