Stormers fullback Dillyn Leyds said no to interest from overseas clubs during the off-season for a number of reasons.
One of them is to realise a lifelong dream - playing alongside younger brother Tristan at Newlands.
The 27-year-old Dillyn was strongly linked with a move to Wasps, but a burning desire to become a regular feature for the national team and also wearing the Stormers colours next to his brother kept him in the Mother City.
While Tristan is currently in the Western Province setup, he is not in the Stormers squad for the season.
But Dillyn knows anything can happen and says Tristan promised him to work hard to push for a place in the squad.
BOSS MAN: Stormers boss John Dobson is critical to the Leyds brothers' dream. Picture: Ryan Wilkisky/BackpagePix.
He explains of his decision to extend his Stormers contract by two years: “There are still things I want to achieve here.
“When the Springboks won the World Cup, for me it was a really good thing for everyone involved and how hard they’ve worked and from where they’ve taken SA Rugby to being top of the peak. I still want to be involved in that as well.
“I have played a couple [10] of Test matches.
"But I don’t think if you mention the name Dillyn Leyds, someone’s going to say he’s a Springbok. He’s just a Stormers stalwart - that’s the type of thing that will come across.
“Hopefully I will play a lot more Tests for the Springboks and hopefully I will be involved in that once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to play against the British and Irish Lions.
“A big thing for me to stay was that my brother is involved in the senior group now as well.
“It’s probably my biggest dream of all, to run onto Newlands and be able to play a game for the Stormers with my brother.”
GIVING HIS ALL: Fullback Tristan Leyds pushing for Stormers dream. Picture: Chris Ricco/BackpagePix.
Asked to elaborate, Dillyn adds: “He prefers playing fullback as well and hopefully I will do well enough to stay in that position this season.
“[But that’s] always been the talk growing up.
“There is a five-year age difference, so we never played together at school.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/THESTORMERS?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@THESTORMERSJersey. #DHLDelivers #DHLStormers pic.twitter.com/1XbUj670Uq
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“It is a lot of fun during training sessions where we could just interchange [swapping out at flyhalf and fullback].
“He promised me that he’s gonna work really hard to hopefully get a look-in.
“I just hope he can stay injury-free, he’s been struggling with his shoulder.
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You would swear it’s a struggle to just let our arm hang by our side
A post shared by Dillyn Leyds(@dill_l8s) on Nov 25, 2018 at 3:00am PST
“I really hope, even if it’s for 10 minutes, we can be on the same field at Newlands”