Lions coach Swys de Bruin called wing Aphiwe Dyantyi a ‘special’ player after his second Man of the Match performance in as many weeks.
The 23-year-old scored two tries, and created another for Sylvain Mahuza, in the Lions’ 47-27 win against the Jaguares at Ellis Park.
De Bruin said while he is wary of singling out players, he is backing Dyantyi to have a great career.
‘He is special. He had another good game. I want to encourage his effort to try things when it is not on.
‘If we really look after him and don’t try to push him too quickly, let him earn his colours, then he will become a legend, I predict. If we plan his future well.’
De Bruin added he will always encourage a ball-in-hand approach, despite the Lions producing an error-ridden first 20 minutes.
‘It was frustrating. It is one of those situations where we were so keen to play and show what we can do and it was mistake after mistake.
‘But we have to look at the end result. We scored 47 points against an almost full international side, so we will take it.
‘I must give the guys credit. We train to play a brand and if it doesn’t come off I don’t want to go conservative. That is against what we stand for.’
Photo: Sydney SeshibediGallo Images
