Dylan Richardson waited 959 days between his first and second caps, an interminable, injury-ravaged odyssey he feared would never end.
Richardson was a 22-year-old flanker with 20 professional starts when Gregor Townsend hoisted him from the Sharks to the Scotland squad in the autumn of 2021. Almost 1,000 days later, he toured the Americas this summer as an abrasive 25-year-old hooker, a man who can stake a compelling claim to the starting jersey at Test level.
These past few years have pushed Richardson to the brink. He wrecked a ligament in one knee, then damaged the other. He played a handful of matches before, as he puts it, “snapping” a finger that sidelined him for another 12 weeks. He got the hand patched up, and promptly injured his back. In fits and starts, he managed fewer than 1200 competitive minutes in 30 months.
“I didn’t really have anyone to blame but myself,” Richardson reflects. “I always do the best I can to look after my body and stay injury-free, but things just weren’t going my way. Mentally it does a lot to you especially when all you want to do is play and put a season together, and you just can’t.
“I spent a lot of time in rehab, going in to train but not really with the team. You fall out of being with all the guys because you are on a separate course.
“The hardest thing was coming back thinking it was all over then going through something else. I didn’t expect it to go on for almost three years. It just seemed to carry on and on.
You get angry with yourself, with the fact you are out. You almost get jealous you are not on the field. It becomes very bad for you.
“As a player and person, I always try to max out in everything and maybe I was doing that too often. I’m getting a bit older, and you understand what is best for your body and what you need to do.”
In the midst of that cruel purgatory, lurching from one injury to the next, Richardson’s hope would melt to frustration. Frustration became torment. Torment sparked introspection. It took him over two years to rid himself of bodily damage but longer to process what had happened to him. Somewhere along the line, he realised he needed counsel.
“You get angry with yourself, with the fact you are out. You almost get jealous you are not on the field. It becomes very bad for you. It took me a while to understand that – why everything is happening to you. It is difficult, and it is something you just have to get through.
“I needed outside help from a mental coach. Sometimes speaking to the same person all the time is not going to help you and you need an outside opinion to tell you when you are right and wrong. That opinion of truth and honesty was key for me, and something I started to look into deeply. It helps you understand everything is not as bad as it seems.
“I’ve never been shy of it, but I never thought I would need it. A lot of players might not understand – you only think you need it when something goes wrong. That’s where I was as well. ‘I don’t need mental health’ until something went wrong then actually, I do need it.”
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Richardson has harboured a white-hot desire to play for the Sharks for as long as he can remember, reared in a rugby-mad KwaZulu-Natal household, braai-ing on the back pitches at Kings Park as a youngster and worshipping those who graced the field.
“[Former Sharks, Toulon and Montpellier hooker] Craig Burden came to my school and awarded me a jersey for rugby player of the year aged 13. My first game for the Sharks, I ended up playing with him. He’d come back from France and we played together. Things like that were crazy. When you play with your childhood heroes, it’s such an awesome experience.”
There’s no point pretending Richardson grew up wearing tartan, singing Runrig in the shower and munching haggis at dinnertime, but a sense of Scottishness was inspired early, and often, by his Edinburgh-born father, Neil. The pair watched the Six Nations together; Neil wishing he’d played in the championship and Dylan eating up the history and prestige of the north’s elite competition. As Richardson climbed the ranks at the Sharks and won age-grade honours with South Africa, the Scottish Rugby scouts made their interest known.
“My father would never miss the Six Nations,” he says. “To be around him when he was watching that, and how he loved Scotland, that was the only thing that made me think, one day I could maybe play for Scotland. It was a really big thing for me. I can’t explain to you – my dad loves his rugby, and when the Six Nations came on it was something different. That was always instilled for me.
Scotland were always looking at and talking to me from a young age. I realised then, and still 100% believe it now: they backed me.
“Playing for the Junior Boks I obviously thought, maybe I could play national rugby for South Africa. Having the citizenship with Scotland, it came to a point where it was my choice.
“Scotland were always looking at and talking to me from a young age. I realised then, and still 100% believe it now: they backed me. They came to me and said, ‘this is the opportunity we have for you’. It was completely my choice. It’s been the best thing I’ve ever done, and all I want to do is go and play in the Six Nations. It is my ultimate goal, so my dad can be there and see it.”
Eligibility laws remain controversial. Dissenting voices and flag emojis and tallies of birthplaces persist. Scotland’s greatest try-scoring man, Duhan van der Merwe, is South Africa-born and raised. So is Kyle Steyn, Glasgow’s URC-conquering captain. It is simultaneously true that Scotland must develop more Test-ready talent through its own domestic pathways, while those who qualify via parentage, grandparentage or residency have every bit as much right to wear the jersey.
“People like Duhan, Pierre Schoeman and Kyle Steyn have given so much,” Richardson says. “Rugby asks a lot of a person and to give that each and every day and be judged on a Saturday is quite difficult.
“My dad is Scottish, he was born in Scotland, and one of his dreams was for me to play in the Six Nations and represent Scotland. That is my dream now – my dream, my goal, my desire, and I’m going to go for it regardless of how people feel.
“As long as people know when I play for that team, I’ll give it 100%. That’s one thing you can’t judge me on – my effort, where my heart will be, and that will be clearly shown in my performance. I’m hoping that’s how people will view me as a character and a sportsman. I 100% wear my heart on my sleeve and when I play for Scotland, I can promise you I will give you nothing but that.”
Fate could soon pit Richardson against the land of his birth, and a whole battalion of the Springbok titans assembled by the Sharks’ wealthy backers. The world champions descend on Murrayfield in mid-November and how Richardson longs to take aim at his illustrious clubmates.
“I would absolutely love it. I practise against Springboks every day. I would love the opportunity to do it for Scotland and share that experience. They are the best team in the world so it’s an awesome time to prove yourself. You have to bring your best or it won’t be a good day for you. It would be an amazing opportunity if I was to get it.”
There’s clarity and conviction in Richardson’s answers. Much of that stems from being injury-free and an international player again, but plenty, too, from his choice of position. For a time, he was caught between two stools, switching from back to front row to suit the Sharks’ needs. Now he’s finally settled on hooker and its niche requirements. His all-action snarl makes flitting back to flanker – as he did in the final quarter of both Scotland Tests this summer – straightforward enough.
I’m not going to lie, every rugby player looks at where the grouping is. It’s a great opportunity for me.
“I find it much easier to switch from hooker to flank. If I need to play flank, that’s perfectly fine, I just make sure I keep my hooking skills in check every single day. Being a hooker is a trade, you have to do it every day otherwise, for me, it won’t just come naturally.
“Flank for me is completely natural, I can do it any week. Hooker is something I work on and want to be great at. I’m not there yet, but I think I will definitely become great at it.”
Hooker is the shallower area of Townsend’s depth chart, too. George Turner has moved to Japan, which will limit his Test opportunities. Fraser Brown and Stuart McInally are now retired, Dave Cherry is 33, and tyros Patrick Harrison and Gregor Hiddleston still green in years and professional minutes. Ewan Ashman is the front-liner, with try machine Johnny Matthews and Northampton’s Robbie Smith pushing for more involvement.
Richardson had a fine tour. In the turkey shoot against Canada, he made 15 carries for 150m, earned three line breaks, broke six tackles while making 15, hit all his lineouts, pilfered a breakdown and grabbed two tries. The opposition was modest, but the Ottawa display eye-catching. He was Scotland’s second-top carrier and tackler and a try-scorer again a fortnight later in Chile.
Richardson was one of the success stories of a trip based on development and cohesion and he sees a chance now to push for inclusion against the big boys.
“Most definitely. I’m not going to lie, every rugby player looks at where the grouping is. It’s a great opportunity for me. It’s also good for Scotland to have youngsters coming through for that position.
“It requires consistency at club level week in, week out and that’s going to be my first step. It’s got to start there. I’m not 100% back yet, I still want to put a full season together.
“To be involved again on tour was great, to see they are still watching me and backing me, it felt like I had never left. That’s the awesome thing about the people Scotland have.”
From 20th November 2021 to 6th July 2024; from a crisp autumn afternoon at Murrayfield to the baking heat of Ottawa, and the Scotland shirt again, at last. Richardson is over the hurt. He’s back in the mix. There’s a dream to chase.
Well done to Richardson and best wishes! It’s a hell of a thing to be a pro sportsman and then there are these mad men who play our beloved game, they all deserve their places, at home and otherwise. Nowhere to hide on a rugby field. Good luck and hope to see you do well against the Boks. 🇿🇦🏴
His dad never left Scotland. Kept his boy's connection to make a decision when an adult. Well done all.
Lol the Scots keeps filling their arsenal with Saffas😂
Who better and legitimately? Why waste such talent if they can qualify to don the Thistle in support of Scotland's efforts to improve their World Ranking and competitiveness?