'My father is from Cardiff' - Meet Dylan Sage, the ProD2 flyer with Test dreams
Centre has become a problem position for Wales with head coach Wayne Pivac having tried 13 different midfield combinations so far in his three-year tenure. Wales’ midfield struggled to unlock defences during this years’ Six Nations campaign with their attack unsuccessful in unleashing a potentially world class back three which includes Liam Williams, Alex Cuthbert, Louis Rees-Zammit, and Josh Adams.
The likes of Willis Halaholo, Nick Tompkins, Owen Watkin, Jonathan Davies, and Johnny Williams all have their strengths but finding the right balance in the middle of the park has eluded Pivac and his attack coach Stephen Jones.
But as of December, Wales will have another potential option in the shape of former South Africa Sevens international Dylan Sage. The man from Cape Town last played Sevens for the Blitzboks in 2018, and under World Rugby’s recently revised eligibility laws can throw his lot in with Wales courtesy of his Cardiff born father.
Sage, who currently plies his trade for Montauban in the French ProD2 is passionate about his Welsh roots. “If I can reach my goal of playing test rugby that would be a dream for me,” he said. “Playing test rugby is my goal and running out for Wales would really appeal to me as my father is from Cardiff, and even speaks some Welsh.
“I played with Cheslin Kolbe, Kwagga Smith, Francois Hougaard, Juan De Jong, Seabelo Senatla, and Rosco Specman at Sevens. They’ve all gone on to play a high level of rugby union so that’s given me the motivation to go and achieve something similar.
“You have to be very good to play Sevens for South Africa, so now I want to make my mark on the 15 a side game. I think I’ve got the attributes to play test rugby and playing rugby in the UK in either the English Premiership or for a Welsh region is something I want to explore.”
Sage, who currently plies his trade for Montauban in the French ProD2 is passionate about his Welsh roots. While he is a proud South African who has come through the system in his homeland Wales was always a big part of his household growing up. His grandparents Mike and Pat Sage, along with his father Chris emigrated to South Africa in the 1980s to run an electronics business.
Despite being over 8,000 miles away from home, they retained strong links to Wales which rubbed off on Dylan and his brother Jarryd. “I still have some family in Wales, on my father’s side,” he said. “Some of my grandmother’s sisters are still there and some of their husbands. And some of their kids are still that side of the world.
“Growing up me and my brother were always told stories of Wales from my dad, and then my grandparents. Obviously, being South African the Springboks were everything to me, but watching Wales play was also very special.
“It used to be a bit more of a fight in our house back in the old days. I think my grandfather was still really support the Welsh as much as he can. I think my father kind of gets torn, he is more of the Springbok side now.
“I was born in South Africa and so I always supported the Springboks, but I do have that affiliation with Wales. I do always want Wales to do well, and I like to support them.
“I think it was my grandfather and grandmother, they moved over, so my father’s mum and dad moved over when the television age was coming through. They were sort of bringing TV and all of that stuff to South Africa.
“They opened their own business in South Africa and have been there ever since.” Sage made 134 appearances for the Blitzboks, scoring 155 points, while he was part of the squad which won a Bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics. But he eventually decided to throw his lot in with the XV a side game, impressing for the Bulls in Super Rugby before upping sticks and heading for the Northern Hemisphere. So, what’s his point of difference over other players?
“I’ve got a good defensive mind and I read an attack quite well,” he said. “I can see where I need to make my tackles, and just work along the defensive line. “As a 13 it can be as if you are on an island somewhere by yourself, so you have to make quick reads and be able to communicate. I’m a direct ball runner, and I’ve got good skills from my time playing sevens.
“The one thing that helped me with the Sevens is picking up those extra skills which perhaps you wouldn’t get just playing one position. I think being the size that I am, I’m not a small guy at 6’2 and 100 kilos, so I can well manage in the contact area.
“I’ve got quick feet, and I can move quite quickly. I think I’m a good leader, and I communicate very well with people.”
The 30-year-old is coming to the end of his contract in France and is considering his next move. There has been interest from several Gallagher Premiership clubs, along with a host of French sides. Pivac has made good use of Welsh rugby’s exiles programme with the likes of Will Rowlands, and Nick Tompkins now mainstays of the Wales side while South African born hooker Bradley Roberts was a shock selection last autumn.
Sage wants to make an impact at club level to position himself for higher honours.
“I’d love to play in the English Premiership or the United Rugby Championship,” he said. “There’s plenty of miles left in me, and I want to prove myself. “I’m ambitious and even though I’d be considered as an older player there’s plenty of miles left in the tank. Playing sevens at such a high level has given me a skillset that some other players don’t have, and I think it could have prolonged my career.
“You look at someone like Hadleigh Parkes who made such an impact for Wales when he was in his 30s. My focus is performing at club level, and whatever happens after that is a bonus.”
Comments on RugbyPass
After their 5/0 start, I had the Crusaders to finish Top 4 only…they lost the plot in Perth but will reload and back themselves vs 4th placed Rebels…
3 Go to commentsBoth nations missed a great opportunity to book a game that would have had a lot of interest from around the world. I understand these games can’t be organised in 5 minutes but they should have found a way to make it happen. I don’t think Wales are ducking anyone but it’s a bad look haha.
3 Go to commentsIt will be fascinating to see the effect that Jo Yapp has. If they can compete with Canada and give BFs a run for their money that will be progress
1 Go to commentsFollowing his dream and putting in the work. Go well young fella!
3 Go to commentsPerhaps filling Twickenham is one of Mitchell’s KPIs. I doubt whether both September matches will be at Twickenham on consecutive weekends. I would take the BF one to a large provincial stadium so as not to give them the advantage and experience of playing at Twickenham before a large crowd prior to the RWC.
2 Go to commentsvery unfortunate for Kitshoff, but big opportunity potentially for Nché to prove he is genuinely the best loosehead in the world, rather than just a specialist finisher. Presuming that if Kitshoff is out, it will also give Steenekamp a chance to come into the 23? Or are others likely to be ahead of him?
1 Go to commentsA long held question in popular culture asks if art imitates life or does the latter influence the former? Over this 6 nations I can ask the same question of the media influencing the thoughts of its audience or vice versa. Nobody wants to see cricket scores in rugby, as a spectacle it is not sustainable. With so many articles about England’s procession and lack of competition it feeds the epicaricacy of many looking for an opportunity to pounce. England are not the first team to dominate nor does it happen only in rugby, think Federer, Nadal, Red Bull or Mercedes, Manchester Utd, Australia in tests and World Cups. Instead of celebrating the achievements why find reasons to falsify it pointing towards larger playing pool, professional for a longer period or mitigate with the lack of growth in other nations. Can we not enjoy it while it is here and know that it won’t last for ever, others coveting what England have will soon take the crown, ask the aforementioned?
6 Go to commentsShame he won’t turn out for the Netherlands now they’re improving. U20s are Euro champs and in the U20 Trophy this year. The senior sides gets better every year too.
3 Go to commentsWill rugbypass tv be showing these games?
1 Go to commentsWell where do you start, the fact that England have a professional domestic league and Ireland’s is fully amatuer, that they have fully seperated professional squads at Fifteens and Sevens (7’s thinly disguised as GB), and Ireland have fully pro Sevens squad who loan some players back to the Semi-Professional Fifteens squad (moved from amateur for only a year or so) for a few games at 6N & RWC’s. The Women’s games is a shambles, and is at risk of killing itself by pushing for professionalism when the market isn’t really there to support it outside one or two countnries..
6 Go to commentsWayne Smith's input didn't have as much impact on the last final as Davison's red card for Thompson. England were 14 points up and flying when that happened.
6 Go to commentsBilly's been playing consistently well for 2 - 3 seasons now and deserves a look in at the top level. Ioane and ALB are still first choice but there needs to be injury cover and succession. His partnership with Jordie gives him first dibs you'd think. Go the Hurricanes.
3 Go to commentsIt’s not up to Wales to support Georgian Rugby. That’s up to International Rugby and Georgia. I sympathise with Georgia’s decent attempt to create this fixture. But for Wales the proposed match up is just a potential stick to beat them with and a potential big psychological blow that young Welsh team doesn’t need. (I’m Irish BTW.)
3 Go to commentsCale certainly looks great in space, but as you say, he has struggled in contact. At 23 years old, turning 24 this year, he should be close to full physical maturity and yet there exists a considerable gap in the power and physicality required for international rugby. Weight doesn’t automatically equate to power and physicality either. Can he go from a player who’s being physically dominated in Super rugby to physically dominating in international rugby in 1 or 2 years? That’s a big ask but he may end up being a late bloomer.
31 Go to commentsIf rugby wants to remain interesting in the AI era then it will need to work on changing the rules. AI will reduce the tactical advantage of smart game plans, will neutralize primary attacking weapons, and will move rugby from a being a game of inches to a game of millimetres. It will be about sheer athleticism and technique,about avoiding mistakes, and about referees. Many fans will find that boring. The answer is to add creative degrees of freedom to the game. The 50-22 is an example. But we can have fun inventing others, like the right to add more players for X minutes per game, or the equivalent of the 2-point conversion in American football, the ability to call a 12-player scrum, etc. Not saying these are great ideas, but making the point that the more of these alternatives you allow, the less AI will be able to lock down high-probability strategies. This is not because AI does not have the compute power, but because it has more choices and has less data, or less-specific data. That will take time and debate, but big, positive and immediate impact could be in the area of ref/TMO assistance. The technology is easily good enough today to detect forward passes, not-straight lineouts, offside at breakdown/scrum/lineout, obstruction, early/late tackles, and a lot of other things. WR should be ultra aggressive in doing this, as it will really help in an area in which the game is really struggling. In the long run there needs to be substantial creativity applied to the rules. Without that AI (along with all of the pro innovations) will turn rugby into a bash fest.
24 Go to commentsSouth Africa rarely play Ireland and France on these tours. Mostly, England, Scotland and Wales. I wonder why
2 Go to commentsIt was a let’s-see-what-you're-made-of type of a game. The Bulls do look good when the opposition allows them to, but Munster shut them down, and they could not find a way through. Jake should be very worried about their chances in the competition.
2 Go to commentsHats off to Fabian for a very impressive journey to date. Is it as ‘uniquely unlikely’ as Rugby Pass suggests, given Anton Segner’s journey at the Blues?
3 Go to commentsSad that this was not confirmed. When administrators talk about expanding the game they evidently don’t include pathways to the top tier of rugby for teams outside of the old boys club. Rugby deserves better, and certainly Georgia does.
3 Go to commentsLions might take him on if they move on Van Rooyen but I doubt he will want to go back, might consider it a step backwards for himself. Sharks would take him on but if Plumtree goes on to win the challenge cup they will keep him on. Also sharks showing some promising signs recently. Stormers and Bulls are stable and Springboks are already filled up. Quality coach though, interesting to see where he ends up
1 Go to comments