Aphiwe Dyantyi has been nominated for World Rugby’s Breakthrough Player of the Year Award for 2018.
The Lions and Springboks winger has been nominated for the award, for players who have played less than one year of senior international rugby, alongside Ireland winger Jordan Larmour and New Zealand prop Karl Tu’inukuafe.
Dyantyi marked his Springboks debut with a try against England in June, and he since scored five more tries in eight subsequent starts — including a brace against both Argentina in Durban and New Zealand in Wellington.
Dyantyi, who made his Super Rugby debut with the Lions only this year, was the joint top try-scorer in the Rugby Championship with five.
“The World Rugby Breakthrough Player of the Year Award recognises the most exciting talent to burst onto the international 15s or sevens stage during the year and highlights the ‘ones to watch’,” World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont said in a statement.
“There were several outstanding candidates and the process of whittling the selection down to a shortlist was tough for the panel. We have three outstanding candidates, who would be worthy recipients of this prestigious award.”
The winner will be revealed at the World Rugby Awards in Monte Carlo on Nov. 25.
The award was been won previously by Nehe Milner-Skudder (2015), Maro Itoje (2016) and Rieko Ioane (2017).