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Aphiwe Odwa Dyantyi (born ) is a South African professional
rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
player for the who play in the
United Rugby Championship The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. For sponsorship reasons the league is known as the Vodacom United Rugby Championship in ...
, the
EPCR Challenge Cup The EPCR Challenge Cup is an annual rugby union competition organised by European Professional Club Rugby (EPCR). It is the second-tier competition for clubs based in European leagues behind the European Rugby Champions Cup. From its inception i ...
. His regular position is
wing A wing is a type of fin that produces both Lift (force), lift and drag while moving through air. Wings are defined by two shape characteristics, an airfoil section and a planform (aeronautics), planform. Wing efficiency is expressed as lift-to-d ...
.


Rugby career


Schools rugby (2007–2012)

Born in the small
Eastern Cape The Eastern Cape ( ; ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. Its capital is Bhisho, and its largest city is Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth). Due to its climate and nineteenth-century towns, it is a common location for tourists. It is also kno ...
town of
Ngcobo Ngcobo, alternatively rendered Engcobo, is a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. Ngcobo is the main town of the Engcobo Local Municipality, which falls within the Chris Hani District Municipality of the Eastern Cape. It is situa ...
, Dyantyi represented the as a fly-half at the 2007 Under-13
Craven Week The Craven Week is an annual rugby union tournament organised for schoolboys in the Republic of South Africa. The tournament started in July 1964, and is named after the legendary Springbok rugby union player and coach Dr Danie Craven. The ...
tournament held in
Krugersdorp Krugersdorp (Afrikaans for ''Kruger's Town'') is a mining city in the West Rand, Gauteng Province, South Africa founded in 1887 by Marthinus Pretorius and Abner Cohen. Following the discovery of gold on the Witwatersrand, a need arose for a ...
. However, he missed out on provincial selection at high school level and did not even play for the
Dale College Boys' High School Dale College Boys' High School, (commonly referred to as Dale College), is a well-established public English medium high school for boys located in Qonce, a town in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. With a rich history, it holds the d ...
first XV after being deemed too small.


University and youth rugby (2013–2015)

After school, Dyantyi enrolled at the
University of Johannesburg The University of Johannesburg, colloquially known as UJ, is a public university A public university, state university, or public college is a university or college that is State ownership, owned by the state or receives significant fundi ...
to study a B.Com. in marketing and he mainly played
soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
, but returned to rugby after friends invited him to play in UJ's internal ' (residency) league. He represented UJ in the Young Guns competition in 2014, as well as playing some
rugby sevens Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...
for the university. In 2015, he played for the senior team in the
Varsity Cup Varsity Cup is the collective name for four South African rugby union competitions involving the top rugby playing universities in the country. It was launched in 2008, with eight teams participating in the Varsity Cup competition and each unive ...
— scoring one try in the competition in a 46–10 victory over the — and linked up with the Under-21 side of the , scoring four tries in the Under-21 Provincial Championship as the team reached the semifinals of the competition.


Golden Lions and UJ (2016–2017)

After further appearances for UJ in the
2016 Varsity Cup The 2016 Varsity Cup was contested from 8 February to 11 April 2016. The tournament (also known as the ''FNB Varsity Cup presented by Steinhoff International'' for sponsorship reasons) was the ninth season of the Varsity Cup, an annual inter-uni ...
— scoring a further four tries as his team reached the semifinals — Dyantyi signed his first professional contract with the , and made his first class debut for the side in their final match of the Currie Cup qualification series against the in
Grabouw Grabouw ( , ) is a town located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. Grabouw is located some 65 km south-east of Cape Town, over Sir Lowry's Pass from Somerset West, along the N2 (South Africa), N2 highway. The town is the commercia ...
. Dyantyi again represented UJ in the Varsity Cup in
2017 2017 was designated as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by the United Nations General Assembly. Events January * January 1 – Istanbul nightclub shooting: A gunman dressed as Santa Claus opens fire at the ...
before making one more first class appearance for the Golden Lions XV in the newly created Rugby Challenge competition, scoring his first points at this level by scoring two tries in their 35–25 victory over the in Johannesburg. He was included in the squad for the 2017 Currie Cup Premier Division, and he made his debut in that competition by starting in their Round One match against the . In addition to making his Currie Cup debut, Dyantyi also scored his first Currie Cup try in a 36–43 defeat. He scored another try in their next match against , and followed that up with a double the following week against trans-
Jukskei Jukskei is a -year-old folk sport () developed and played in South Africa. History Jukskei is believed to have originated around 1743 in the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, developed by "transport riders" who travelled with ox-drawn Wagon, wa ...
rivals the . He remained in the squad for the remainder of the competition, eventually featuring in all 13 of his side's matches, scoring further tries in their return match against the Blue Bulls and their penultimate match of the regular season against to help the Golden Lions finish in third spot and secure a semifinal berth. The team fell short at that stage, losing 5–19 to Western Province in
Cape Town Cape Town is the legislature, legislative capital city, capital of South Africa. It is the country's oldest city and the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. Cape Town is the country's List of municipalities in South Africa, second-largest ...
.


Super Rugby and South Africa (2018)

In 2018, Dyantyi was named in the squad for the
2018 Super Rugby season The 2018 Super Rugby season was the 23rd season of Super Rugby, an annual rugby union competition organised by SANZAAR between teams from Argentina, Australia, Japan, New Zealand and South Africa. After two seasons in which 18 teams participate ...
. He was named on the left wing for their first match of the season against the to make his
Super Rugby Super Rugby is a men's professional rugby union club competition involving teams from Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, and the Pacific Islands. It has previously included teams from Argentina, Japan, and South Africa. Super Rugby started as the S ...
debut, and took just 22 minutes to score his first Super Rugby try in a 26–19 victory. He scored two more in their next match, a 47–27 victory over Argentine side the , and scored further tries against the and as he firmly established himself as the team's first choice left wing. A torn
pectoral muscle Pectoral muscles (colloquially referred to as "pecs") are the muscles that connect the front of the human chest with the bones of the upper arm and shoulder. This region contains four muscles that provide movements to the upper limbs or ribs. ...
ruled him out for six weeks, but he returned for four matches before the break for the June internationals, including a match against the where he played in an unfamiliar
outside centre In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...
role. South Africa head coach
Rassie Erasmus Johan "Rassie" Erasmus (born 5 November 1972) is a South African rugby union coach and former player. He is the current head coach of the Springboks, the South African national team, currently in his second stint in charge of the team. Erasmus ...
included Dyantyi in the national squad for the incoming series against
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
and he started and scored a try in their 42–39 victory in the first test. He also started their second and third test matches, helping South Africa to a 2–1 win in the series. Dyantyi returned to Super Rugby action, playing in their final two matches of the regular season and scoring a try in their match against the to help the Lions finish top of the South African Conference. A win over the Jaguares in the Qualifiers was followed up by a 44–26 win over the in the semi-finals — with Dyantyi scoring a 26th minute try — to qualify for the final. Dyantyi was named on the bench for the final against the and could not prevent his side losing the match 18–37 in
Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...
to finish the competition as runners-up. Dyantyi's try haul of seven tries was the joint-second most by a Lions player'; replacement winger
Madosh Tambwe Madosha Michael Tambwe (born 12 May 1997) is a South African rugby union player for Montpellier. He usually plays as a winger. Early life Tambwe was born in Kinshasa, Zaire, a few days before the end of the First Congo War that resulted in the ...
also scored seven while hooker
Malcolm Marx Malcolm Justin Marx (born 13 July 1994) is a South African professional rugby union player who currently plays for the South Africa national rugby team and Kubota Spears in the Japan Rugby League One. His regular position is hooker, but he d ...
topped the try-scoring charts with 12 tries. Dyantyi was again named in the South Africa national squad for the
2018 Rugby Championship The 2018 Rugby Championship was the seventh edition of the expanded annual southern hemisphere The Rugby Championship, Rugby Championship, featuring Argentina national rugby union team, Argentina, Australia national rugby union team, Australia, So ...
, and scored two tries in his first start in this competition, a 34–21 victory over in
Durban Durban ( ; , from meaning "bay, lagoon") is the third-most populous city in South Africa, after Johannesburg and Cape Town, and the largest city in the Provinces of South Africa, province of KwaZulu-Natal. Situated on the east coast of South ...
. He started in losses away to Argentina and before scoring two tries in their 36–34 win over , their first victory in New Zealand since
2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...
. He also scored a try in their next match — a 23-12 win against Australia — after just 25 seconds.


Honours and awards

On 25 November 2018 at the
World Rugby Awards The World Rugby Awards are given out annually by World Rugby (until November 2014, known as the International Rugby Board), the worldwide governing body for rugby union, for major achievements in the sport. The idea of rewarding excellence in ru ...
in
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, Dyantyi was named the World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year, after a season that saw him score six tries in thirteen appearances for the South Africa national team. He is the fourth winner of this award and the first South African.


Doping allegations

In July 2019, Dyantyi tested positively for
metandienone Metandienone, also known as methandienone or methandrostenolone and sold under the brand name Dianabol (D-Bol) among others, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) medication which is mostly no longer prescribed. It is also used non-medically ...
,
methyltestosterone Methyltestosterone, sold under the brand names Android, Metandren, and Testred among others, is an androgen and anabolic steroid (AAS) medication which is used in the treatment of low testosterone levels in men, delayed puberty in boys, at low ...
and
LGD-4033 LGD-4033, also known by the developmental code name VK5211 and by the black-market name Ligandrol, is a selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM) which is under development for the treatment of muscle atrophy in people with hip fracture. It w ...
, which are all on the
World Anti-Doping Agency The World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA; , AMA) is an international organization co-founded by the governments of over 140 nations along with the International Olympic Committee based in Canada to promote, coordinate, and monitor the fight against d ...
's banned substances list. He was informed about the doping violation in August 2019, and the South African Institute for Drug-Free Sports charged Dyantyi with doping offences after his 'B' sample also tested positive. Dyantyi received a four year ban from all rugby. In June 2023 it was announced that he had signed with the and would begin training with them ahead of his ban ending in August 2023.


International appearances

Dyantyi appeared in the following matches for
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
:


References


External links

*
itsrugby.co.uk profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dyantyi, Aphiwe South African rugby union players Living people 1994 births People from Engcobo Local Municipality Rugby union wings Golden Lions players Lions (United Rugby Championship) players South Africa international rugby union players Rugby union players from the Eastern Cape Doping cases in rugby union Sharks (rugby union) players Alumni of Dale College Boys' High School Blue Bulls players 21st-century South African sportsmen Bulls (rugby union) players