A lack of time on the paddock for the Springbok back three in 2022 opens the gates for Dillyn Leyds to bolt, writes DEVIN HERMANUS.
Jacques Nienaber is set to name his squad for the Wales series before the end of May, with Makazole Mapimpi the only Bok incumbent ploughing the back channels with regularity this season.
Mapimpi has played all but four minutes of the Sharks’ Vodacom United Rugby Championship campaign before the close of the group stages, the left wing scoring six tries and named the competition’s Player of the Month for January.
Jesse Kriel started the Boks’ three end-of-year Tests of 2021 at No 14 – injury and travel restrictions ruled out Cheslin Kolbe and Sbu Nkosi, respectively – but retreaded to midfield for club side Canon Eagles.
Less than a year later and it’s deja vu for Nienaber. After a delayed debut for Toulon, Kolbe had thumb surgery and is in a race to face Wales in July, while Nkosi’s injury plagued season is all but over as he focuses on his move to the Vodacom Bulls.
Aphelele Fassi is poised for a breakout year in the green and gold, yet the Sharks fullback missed three successive games in the URC due to injury.
Warrick Gelant has shot the lights out whenever he has played for the Stormers, but started six of nine matches and was sidelined for another three before the Capetonians clashed with Scarlets.
‘Boks not blooding youngsters now is nonsense’
The 2019 World Cup winner was also omitted from the national alignment camps, which fellow Stormers flyer Seabelo Senatla attended with the hope of earning his first Bok call-up.
The versatile Damian Willemse clocked an impressive 881 minutes for the Stormers ahead of the Scarlets encounter – but started six of 11 matches at inside centre, where his Bok future looks more promising.
Playing off the bench in four of eight games for Toyota Verblitz, Willie le Roux is set to return home undercooked from the less-than-gruelling Japanese League One.
Hence, Leyds has the bit between his teeth, the talented playmaker consistently backed at fullback and wing by La Rochelle in unforgiving northern-hemisphere conditions.
A supremely skilful player with pace, vision and quick feet, the 29-year-old – alongside fellow Bok outcast Raymond Rhule – has been a mainstay for the French outfit in the Top 14 and is en route to a successive European Champions Cup final, against Leinster on 28 May.
Since the turn of the year, Leyds has played 807 minutes and started three matches at fullback, seven at right wing, and one on the left. He has scored seven tries, can be trusted under the high ball as well as to put boot to synthetic rubber, and works bravely on defence.
His tireless performances are a benchmark for SA-based URC players to measure themselves for Champions Cup duty in 2022-23, and whose knowledge of French conditions would be invaluable for the 2023 World Cup in the country.
And who can forget, it was wearing the No 11 Stormers jersey when he delivered that no-look offload to SP Marais in a 2017 Super Rugby clash with the Chiefs that came shortly before his Bok debut.
If Leyds, who earned the last of his 10 Test caps in 2019, keeps up his red-hot run while his contemporaries cool their heels, it would be foolish to overlook him.
