Hacjivah Dayimani is one of seven unlucky rugby players who might be wondering what more they must do to crack a nod at the Springboks after being overlooked for an upcoming Test match against Wales.
This after Bok coach Rassie Erasmus named his preferred 35-man squad for a one-off international against the Welsh on 22 June at Twickenham Stadium in London.
Although Erasmus has made it clear what is expected for a player to become a Bok, not everyone is convinced that Stormers No.8 Dayimani won’t bring sy kant if he gets called up.
The narrative of Dayimani being a flashy loose-forward and not doing enough off-the-ball work seems to have stuck as his miskyk will now most probably make up the Kapenaar’s mind about that rumoured overseas move to French club Racing 92.
He is not the only Stormer that’ll be feeling sleg, with centre Dan du Plessis’ consistent performances in a Kaapse team that has experienced a mixed United Rugby Championship (URC) not being rewarded.
Du Plessis has been a mainstay in the Stormers midfield and also had to sacrifice his favoured position of No.12 to accommodate Damian Willemse and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, by moving to outside centre.
Hard-working Stormers lock Ruben van Heerden is another form player who has missed out with his URC season stats (51 carries, 16 offloads, 98 percent tackle success rate and 8 line-out steals) not counting in his favour.
And after an under-the-radar invite to a Bok camp, young Stormers winger Suleiman Hartzenberg would have felt he was a shoo-in for selection, just to see his old Stormers mate and Lions spoedvraat Edwill van der Merwe get called up for a possible Bok debut.
One Lions player who will feel bitterly disappointed about not making it will be Sanele Nohamba, especially after the nominee for URC Player of the Season was also part of previous Bok camps this year.
Two World Cup-winning Boks Warrick Gelant and Herschel Jantjies also missed out on selection.