Confirmed: Drug ban looms for World Cup-Winning Springbok!

Another year, another potential drug ban for a Springbok following a positive test for a banned substance.

In the year where former Springbok winger Aphiwe Dyantyi made his long-awaited return from a four-year ban another is looming. 

SPRINGBOK DRUG BAN SITUATION

Dyantyi was slapped with a four-year ban back in 2020. This after both his A and B samples returned traces of multiple banned substances. This was initially discovered in 2019 and it ruled the ex-Lions star out of a possible Rugby World Cup selection. This would’ve hit even harder for him, having just won World Rugby’s Newcomer Of the Year award for the 2018 season. 

In the season that Dyantyi broke out for the Lions, he made his Springbok debut alongside Sbu Nkosi. The two speedster’s began Rassie Erasmus’ initial tenure as the first choice wingers. Nkosi, then of the Sharks went on to win the World Cup in Japan in 2019, but served as second fiddle to Cheslin Kolbe in the number 14 jersey. Since then, he has been in a downward spiral.

He was last in a Springbok jersey in 2021 and has since player for the Bulls and the Cheetahs. Things went left for Nkosi at the Bulls, with the winger going missing in 2022. He was then given another opportunity in 2023 but fell out of favour with director of Rugby Jake White. After a quiet period, he was then snapped up by the Free State side on a one-year Currie Cup contract. This for many, was last chance saloon for the 28-year-old. 

NKOSI POSITIVE TEST CONFIRMED

Now according to the latest reports from SA Rugby Magazine, citing AFP, the Cheetahs have confirmed Nkosi’s drug test failure!

“I can confirm reports that Sbu (Nkosi) underwent a World Rugby test in May and his A-sample was positive,” Said an anonymous Cheetahs official. 

Nkosi and the Cheetahs now await the return of his B sample, which could determine what happens next. Should it also come back positive for the anabolic steroid, that would result in a four year ban!