Bulls confirm signing of former Bok flyer Aphiwe Dyantyi

The Bulls have confirmed that former Springbok wing Aphiwe Dyantyi has joined the Pretoria franchise.

The 29-year-old has signed a two-year deal with Jake White’s outfit after previously playing for the Lions and the Sharks.

Dyantyi returned to action in August last year after serving a four-year ban for testing positive for three banned substances months before the 2019 Rugby World Cup.

He had burst onto the scene a few years earlier and won 13 Test caps for the Boks in 2018 and 2019. At the end of his breakout season in 2018 he was named World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year.

‘Second opportunity’

Dyantyi played just a handful of United Rugby Championship games for the Sharks this last season and will now look to the Bulls to rekindle the form that made him one of South Africa’s most exciting players five years ago.

“This feels like a second opportunity,” said the 29-year-old who grew up in the Eastern Cape and played his schoolboy rugby at Dale College.

“It will be good to be in an environment like the one the Bulls have, almost very familiar considering that I was down the highway(at the Lions) during the start of my career.

“I hope to enjoy my time with the Loftus family and am thankful for the opportunity Jake (White) and Edgar (Rathbone) have given me.”

Dyantyi is most comfortable on the wing, but he has also played centre before and is understood to have even dabbled in playing flyhalf and fullback.

Nama Xaba is now also a Bull

Meanwhile, former Western Province flanker Nama Xaba has also joined the Bulls on a two-year deal.

The former Glenwood High first team captain and head boy said: “I am looking forward to a different challenge away from my comfort zone.

“There are a lot of quality players at the Bulls and I want to play alongside them. I also have a wonderful opportunity to be taught by seasoned coaches, so I am looking forward to learning from them.”