Leyds: That pass was a calculated risk gone 100% right

OF ALL the great moments that Stormers speedster Dillyn Leyds has created this season, that offload was undoubtedly the best one.

That perfectly-executed, offthe-ground, backdoor offload that put fullback SP Marais away on the outside to score against the Chiefs. That’s the one.

It just worked out so perfectly. And reflecting back on that magical moment, Leyds, pictured, said from New Zealand yesterday that he was lucky that the “calculated risk came off”.

“That pass was a calculated risk gone 100 percent right,” Leyds said.

“I don’t quite know what I was thinking at that time, but I just backed myself to do it and lucklily it came off.”

Leyds has been absolutely fantastic for the Stormers this season, but his scintillating form hasn’t shifted his focus to wearing the Bok jersey.

Leyds, who spent the majority of last season on the sidelines due to a lengthy knee injury he picked up early last year, has certainly made up for lost time this season. And he’s done so in every single game he’s featured in for Robbie Fleck’s team.

From slicing runs to accurate chips and, of course, that ridiculous offload, Leyds has been instrumental for the Stormers’ attacking cause until now. And he hasn’t slacked on defence either.

So given his consistently superb performances for the Cape side, no one can say that Leyds didn’t deserve that invitation to the Bok party, but the 24-year-old maintains that he’s firmly focused on the Stormers for now.

“Coming back from quite a serious injury all I wanted to do was get some game time for the Stormers and that’s been going well for the moment,” Leyds said.

“My goal every week is just to be in that starting line-up and fortunately that’s been happening.

“Ultimately I think that’s (Springbok selection) an uncontrollable. What I can focus on is to keep playing well. The rest will take care of itself.”

The Stormers will be keen on making up for their 29-16 defeat to the Lions at the weekend when they face the Crusaders in Christchurch on Saturday (9.35am kickoff), and although the men from Johannesburg did well to cut off some of the Stormers’ attacking options and forced them into an unfamiliar (of late) number of handling errors, Leyds said that the Stormers are planning on sticking to the new attacking approach – which has served them well this season – regardless of the past weekend’s result.

“We still want to play the brand we’ve been working on and training hard at. I don’t think one loss is going to put us back into our shell,” he said.

“For us it’s about growing as individuals and as a team, we want to go out there and play some rugby.

“We’re embracing this challenge and ultimately it’s a learning curve for everyone. We’re all young and we want to see what we’re capable of doing against the so-called best rugby playing nation in the world.”

On Tuesday, Stormers skills coach Paul Feeney joked: “I’m only feeding him (Leyds) potatoes this week. Hopefully he’ll weigh 80kg by the weekend.” But Feeney quickly pointed out that there shouldn’t be a fixation on size – even though Leyds’ direct opponent on Saturday will probably be Seta Tamanivalu – a 1.89m, 105kg package.

But Leyds, who weighs 78kg, wasn’t too bothered by his possible opponent’s physique.

“When I take the field, my direct opponent will probably be bigger than me nine times out of 10,” the versatile back said.

“There’s really nothing much I can do about it. It’s a physical game, you always have to try and stop your opponent. You can’t sit and worry about tackling giants.”