Dyantyi aims to make country proud

Quickly becoming a national sensation, try-hungry Springbok left wing Aphiwe Dyantyi (right) doesn’t tremble easily – not even when his direct opposition is destructive All Black counterpart Waisake Naholo.

Ahead of this afternoon’s big rematch at Loftus Versfeld, Dyantyi cleverly sidestepped a direct question posed to him this week.

“My job is just to play on the field and to carry out the coaches’ instructions,” Dyantyi said.

“The All Blacks, as we know, are the No 1 side in the world and they are not there by fluke, so we are going to have to believe in what we are doing and trust ourselves that it will get us over the line.

“I don’t think playing for the national team you can ever be comfortable, but hopefully we can make the country proud again.”

His war-cry after scoring was a remnant of his youth, Dyantyi revealed, when he watched a lot of rugby with his brothers and was awed by the Haka performed by passionate All Blacks players.

“They have their Haka but we have our own thing that we want to do to get us ready. New Zealand against South Africa – I don’t think it gets any bigger than that,” said the 24-year-old.

Having scored six tries in just eight Tests, Dyantyi said he was flattered to be compared to former Bok star Bryan Habana, and he was eager to shine again this weekend.

“Obviously I’m excited and it’s another opportunity for us as a team. We are in the process of building for the 2019 World Cup and this is another chance,” he said.

“It’s an ongoing process and there’s still a lot of room for improvement individually and as a team, and credit must go to the guys around me who have helped me to settle.”