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Springbok Aphiwe Dyantyi insisted he hasn't cheated... but B sample result hasn't backed him up
By Liam Heagney
Aphiwe Dyantyi has been formally charged with a doping offence for multiple anabolic steroids and metabolites after his B-sample also tested positive.
It was confirmed to SA Rugby on Friday that the South African Institute of Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS) had detected an adverse analytical finding in the sample collected from Springbok wing Dyantyi in a doping test on July 2.
In a statement, it was claimed that “SA Rugby, the Lions Rugby Company and Dyantyi are working with SAIDS, the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and all other relevant authorities on the matter and no further comment can be made at this stage”.
Lions back Dyantyi, capped on 13 occasions by the Springboks, revealed last Saturday that he had requested the testing of the B sample taken while he was attending a South African training camp.
In a media statement issued via his agent Gert van der Merwe last weekend, the 25-year-old denied any wrongdoing. However, was since left out of the Springboks squad for the World Cup and must now mount a convincing defence if he is to avoid a lengthy suspension.
“I want to deny ever taking any prohibited substance, intentionally or negligently, to enhance my performance on the field. I believe in hard work and fair play. I have never cheated and never will,” wrote Dyantyi before the B sample positive was confirmed.
“The presence of this prohibited substance in my body has come as a massive shock to me and together with my management team and experts appointed by them, we are doing everything we can to get to the source of this and to prove my innocence.
“As a professional sportsman on the national and international level, we get tested on a regular basis. I have been tested before and again since this test. It is part of the job and we all know that each and every player is bound to get tested at least two to four times a year.
“Taking any prohibited substance would not only be irresponsible and something that I would never intentionally do. It would also be senseless and stupid. I underwent a drug test on June 15 (only two weeks prior to the July 2 test) which did not return any adverse finding.”
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Nice one John. I agree that defence (along with backfield kick receipt/positioning) remains their biggest issue, but that I did see some small improvements in it despite the scoreline like the additional jackal attempts from guys like tupou and the better linespeed in tight. But, I still see two issues - 1) yes they are jackaling, but as you point out they aren't slowing the ball down. I think some dark arts around committing an extra tackler, choke tackles, or a slower roll away etc could help at times as at the moment its too easy for oppo teams to get quick ball (they miss L wright). Do you have average ruck speed? I feel like teams are pretty happy these days to cop a tackle behind the ad line if they still get quick ball... and 2) I still think the defence wide of the 3-4th forward man out looks leaky and disconnected and if sua'ali'i is going to stay at 13 I think we could see some real pressure through that channel from other teams. The wallabies discipline has improved and so they are giving away less 3 pt opportunities and kicks into their 22 via penalty. Now, they need to be able to force teams to turnover the ball and hold them out. They scramble quite well once a break is made, but they seem to need the break to happen first... Hunter, marika and daugunu were other handy players to put ruck pressure on. Under rennie, they used to counter ruck quite effectively to put pressure on at the b/down as well.
Go to commentsYes, probably why he still annoys me even now
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