Rassie Erasmus says Aphiwe Dyantyi’s lack of game time kept him out of the Springboks’ World Cup squad regardless of the outcome of his doping tests.

Dyantyi returned a positive finding for an undisclosed prohibited substance after being tested on 2 July following a Springbok training camp.

The Bok wing has maintained his innocence and asked for his B sample to be tested, with results expected at the end of this week.

Regardless, Erasmus said after naming his 31-man squad on Monday, Dyantyi’s struggles with a leg injury – which have prevented any team involvement this year – would have kept him out of the squad.

‘I only found out about it 10 days ago,’ Erasmus said. ‘So the last time I spoke, I still thought it was still just an injury.

‘So he would not have made the World Cup squad anyway, because of team selection protocol. It is the same as Damian Willemse. He would not have made the World Cup squad because you can’t just rock up to the World Cup without any game time.

‘Aphiwe would not have made it because he has not played rugby for five or six weeks. That was my point of view.

‘I had only heard of the result of his test on 13 August. That was not something that was withheld by us. It was only made official then. Aphiwe has now come out and said himself that he tested positive. So, it was not something that myself or SA Rugby tried to hide from anyone.’

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