Coach Dobson happy to have ‘talisman’ Leyds back
WESTERN PROVINCE coach John Dobson received an early Christmas present yesterday morning in the form of Springbok wing Dillyn Leyds.
Deemed surplus to requirements by the Boks, Dobson was only to happy to welcome back his “talisman” to the fold for Friday evening’s Currie Cup clash against the Golden Lions at Newlands (7pm kickoff ).
“It certainly was a pleasant surprise to see Dillyn at training this morning,” Dobson enthused. “He adds so much value on and off the field. He is a real talisman. His skills and tactical kicking are very good, while he can also cover the flyhalf position. (He) represents everything this union and region stands for. Such a great human being. It’s about as big a boost as we could hope for.”
Leyds is one of two changes to the WP team that beat the Blue Bulls 45-34 last week at Newlands. The flying wing replaces the injured Bjorn Basson, while blockbusting teenager Cobus Wiese swaps with Kobus van Dyk on the flank.
Wiese played a couple of matches for the Stormers during the Super Rugby season before suffering an injury, and will now make his Province debut on Saturday. Although just 20-years-old, Wiese has already shown that he has an immense physical presence and does not hold back in the tackle.
Apparently that does not only hold true for the opposition after the former Upington High School learner could not contain his enthusiasm at practise yesterday.
“He knocked out somebody at training today. It was a tight-head prop he knocked out,” Dobson said.
“He’s a hard piece of steel that thing. He’s a big boy. Hard, intense… if I look at these young forwards here, I’m sure they are going to go on and contribute at national level. I’m very excited by him. Very big, hard, athletic.”
Province certainly have an abundance of talented young loose forwards coming through the ranks. Wiese is only 20, Van Dyk 23, Johan du Toit – younger brother of Stormers and Bok lock Pieter-Steph – is 21 while World Junior Rugby Player of the Year Juarno Augustus, 19, and fellow Junior Bok and SA Sevens star Zain Davids, 20 are also on WP’s books.
“We have the Under20 World Player of the Year and he’s not playing at the moment. That just shows the depth we have at the moment. Juarno has a bit of work to do, and we need to go firm on his position. So, we’ll try and do that with the Under-21s, then he’ll come into the frame for Currie Cup. But that does reflect the depth we have because there (are) other loose forwards who were superb in the SuperSport Rugby Challenge,” Dobson said.