Aphiwe Dyantyi deserves praise, not condemnation

What is the purpose of punishment? Can a sinner ever be forgiven? Should the condemned forever walk this earth as marked men?

After thousands of years, all the religions of the world are still searching for concrete answers to these complicated questions. If only they’d sought the definitive advice of the former Ireland centre Gordan D’Arcy who would have provided short and clear retorts to all of the above.

This week, the three-time European Champions Cup winner with Leinster had a bone to pick in his Irish Times column. The source of his ire was the reception Aphiwe Dyantyi received at Kings Park in Durban as Connacht snatched an impressive one-point victory against the Sharks.

“What really struck me was that [Dyantyi’s] return was so celebrated by the home crowd and the home broadcaster,” D’Arcy lamented. “Dyantyi did very little of note in the game and yet he was interviewed post-match. Nobody was in the least bit sheepish or ashamed about welcoming back a proven doper.”

It’s true, Dyantyi was found guilty of taking a banned substance shortly after being recognised as World Rugby’s breakthrough player of the year in 2018. It was a shocking blow not only for the player himself, but for South African rugby and its loyal supporters. His introduction to the elite level of the game felt like a supernova, one that exploded with dazzling colours but faded all too suddenly.

Having scored a try on his Super Rugby debut – for the Lions against the Sharks – he repeated the trick in his first Test when he dotted down against England in Siya Kolisi’s first game as Springboks captain. He started the next two Tests as South Africa won the series and was a regular feature in the Rugby Championship that season, scoring five tries in six Tests.

I spoke to him after on the eve of his appearance for the Barbarians against Argentina in Twickenham a few months later. Barely past his 24th birthday, he had that irresistible combination of cockiness and naivety. As if he knew the world was at his feet even though he had no idea where his next step would take him. Already equipped with a trademark celebration, he told me with a toothy smile that he harboured big dreams. That he foresaw himself as a mainstay of a Springboks side that had the potential to conquer the world.

A hamstring injury cruelly ruled him out of contention for the 2019 World Cup but that was merely the jab that preceded a devastating right cross. On 24 August that same year, news broke that he had tested positive for an unspecified illegal substance.

“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,” Dyantyi said in a statement. “I have never cheated and never will.”

That’s not how a three-person panel saw it and one of the game’s most exciting prospects was banned for four years.

How did he cope with the isolation? Can you imagine the pain that must have registered every time the likes of Cheslin Kolbe, Makazole Mapimpi and Kurt-Lee Arendse crossed the whitewash? “That should have been me,” is what he surely thought throughout the most successful period in South African rugby history. Wouldn’t that have been punishment enough?

Dyantyi served his time. That he remained fit and motivated enough to seamlessly return to professional rugby is a testament to his character. Lesser men might have resorted to despair and depression, seeking solace in activities that would have ruined his body and mind.

“I believe in second chances,” Erasmus said before Dyantyi’s comeback match against D’Arcy’s former team, Leinster, on 10 October this year. “If there’s a ban and that’s what the disciplinary decided, he’s served his ban and it must have been tough on him. “I really do hope he comes back through the pain, and I really hope he does well for the Sharks, from where we can hopefully pick him for the Boks again.

“I know there are a lot of people who don’t feel the same way, but that’s why there was a time period with the ban.”

D’Arcy clearly doesn’t agree which then leads to the obvious question of what would an appropriate response have looked like? Should the Sharks supporters have booed Dyantyi? Should the commentators have grilled the young man – not yet 30-years-old – in the immediate aftermath of the match, raising a transgression committed four years ago? There’s enough bad blood spilt in this sport – although D’Arcy is clearly after more.

The retired Irish midfielder noted that Dyantyi’s is not an isolated case. He name-checked Elton Jantjies and Mahlatse ‘Chiliboy’ Ralepelle as former Boks who had also copped serious suspicions for doping. It should be noted that South African rugby has long been plagued by allegations of substance abuse that has infiltrated all tiers of the pyramid. Doping scandals have rocked schoolboy rugby in the country this year, as well as in 2022, 2020 and 2018.

But this is a rugby problem, not just a South African rugby problem. Last year the former Ireland lock Dan Tuoy was handed a two-year ban for taking an anabolic agent as he fought his way back from injury. In 2020 James Cronin, the Munster prop with 143 caps for his province, was found guilty of taking a substance banned by the World Anti-Doping Agency. He was banned for a month despite it being found that the corticosteroid he ingested came about as a result of a pharmacist’s error.  A quick search online shows that Australian, Fijian, English and French players have all been pinned in the past.

But that is beside the point. This is about one young man’s mistake and his subsequent redemption. Rugby teaches us to celebrate the last-gasp triumph, the desperate try-saving tackle in the corner, and the battle for that differential inch on the pitch. Dyantyi’s story, warts and all, encapsulates everything that we should hold sacrosanct in our game.