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Springbok Aphiwe Dyantyi tests positive for banned substance
By Liam Heagney
Aphiwe Dyantyi has requested the testing of a B sample after the Super Rugby Lions winger, capped on 13 occasions by the Springboks, had a urine sample, given on July 2 while attending a South African training camp, returned positive for a banned substance on August 14 by South African Institute for Drug-Free Sport (SAIDS).
In a media statement issued on Saturday via his agent Gert van der Merwe, the soon-to-be 25-year-old denied any wrongdoing.
“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,” he wrote.
“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 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.
“I want to apologise in advance to my team-mates and management at the Lions and Springboks, my friends and my family for the negative impact this news may have.
“Personally this game has given me an opportunity to inspire not only the young rugby hopefuls but South Africans across all walks of life and that is something I do not take for granted and something I would definitely not risk by doing a stupid act like this.
“I will now put all my energy in working with my support team and focus in proving my innocence in this matter and will not be providing any comments until there are further developments in the matter that warrants comment from my side.”
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i think Argentina v France could be a good game too, depending on which Argentina turns up. The most difficult to call is Scotland Australia.
Go to commentsSmith is playing a different game with the rest of the backs struggling to understand. That's the problem with so called playmakers, if nobody gets what they're doing then it often just leads to a turnover. It gets worse when Borthwick changes one of them, which is why they don't score points at the end. Sometimes having a brilliant playmaker can be problematic if a team cannot be built around them. Once again Borthwick seems lacking in either coaching or selection. I can't help but think it's the latter coupled with pressure to select the big name players.
Lastly, his forward replacements are poor and exposed either lack of depth or selection pressure. Cole hemorrhages scrum penalties whenever he comes on, opponents take advantage of the England scrum and close out the game. Is that the best England can offer?
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