A Welsh rugby fan who had been holidaying on Mars for 17 months might return today with three burning questions.
“How is Dan Lydiate after his terrible injury? Is he enjoying time on the farm after his retirement as a player? Who’s replaced him in the Wales team?”
The individual in question might struggle to believe the answers.
Lydiate is fine, thanks very much. He has recovered well enough from the obliteration of his right knee playing against Ireland in February 2021 to be playing again, so full-time commitment on the farm will have to wait. Not only that, but he’s playing for Wales again.
Seven different back-rowers tried their luck in the national No. 6 jersey during his prolonged absence, but at 34 the blindside flanker whom Shaun Edwards once described as his favourite rugby player is back in the starting line-up. His return to prominence is one of the feelgood stories of this or any other season.
Last weekend one of Welsh rugby’s most ferocious combatants made 18 tackles without missing over 60 minutes. It was an extraordinary performance, with Lydiate repeatedly knocking back big South African forwards behind the gainline. One hit on Pieter-Steph du Toit saw the Welsh No. 6 hold his ground before bringing the 2019 world player of the year to the ground with expert technique and courage beyond the understanding of 99.9 percent of the rest of us.
Yet if we rewind just four months the mid-Wales farmer revealed to this writer over a Zoom call that his primary goal for the rest of the season was to earn a new contract at the Ospreys.
We’ll call that typical of the man: no grand sense of his own worth or indispensability. Such ideas never have been part of Lydiate’s way of thinking.
Instead, his first objective was to prove himself to his regional head coach Toby Booth all over again. Two months later, a new deal came his way. You can read about Lydiate's comeback display here.
Credit Wayne Pivac: he had already named Lydiate in Wales’ squad for the South Africa tour, recognising that the first priority for a team heading into a Test series against the Springboks is to equip themselves with sufficient physicality to cope.
After his effort in Bloemfontein, plaudits poured in, with some feting him as the Silent Ninja and others settling for describing his display as “monstrous”. Someone else called him “of another world”.
How can this be possible after an injury-battered career that has seen Lydiate sustain a broken neck and terrible shoulder, ankle, knee and bicep problems? Most other folk would have long ago decided to earn their money in less hazardous ways.
His old friend Joe Bearman, who played alongside him at the Dragons and at the Ospreys, is in no doubt about the answer.
“Dan is a warrior,” said Bearman. “I was there in France when he broke his neck on the pitch as a 19-year-old and we were all desperately worried about him.
“But he had the dedication and will to make it back and he has kept returning from injuries and playing brilliant rugby since.
“What he does is incredible and shows what hard work can do. He’ll be the first to admit he isn't the flashiest player.
"But he’s a rugged, tough No. 6 who never goes missing in action and always gets his job done.
“He’s at his best when he has complementary players around him, to leave him concentrate on what he’s good at. People may not always see what he does amid everything else that happens in a game, but there’s no one better at tackling and grafting. His team-mates all appreciate what he does.
“People have said Dan isn’t spotted much in games with ball in hand, but back rows have to be balanced. He can’t be putting in 20 tackles a game if people are expecting him to carry 20 times and throw out 20 passes. The art of back-row selection is to pull different strands together and blend different skills so the team can work at full capacity. Wales have been good at that over the years.
“When Dan plays, I always think they play better.”
One measure of a sportsman’s worth is to imagine how his team would have fared without him. Last weekend, Wales would have found it tough against South Africa in Bloemfontein minus Lydiate. Very tough, indeed.
But he won’t luxuriate in his effort or the plaudits that have come with it. That isn’t his style.
“Dan will just move onto the next job,” said Bearman. “He plays for the side and is very popular because he’s grounded and there’s no loudness about him. He won’t mind me saying that he has terrible fashion sense, but that’s him, someone who’s happy to walk down the street and quietly lead his life. He’s someone who’s good to know.
“I’m proud of the way he’s still going and still playing. All the praise he gets he deserves.”
Might Lydiate make it to another World Cup with Wales, 16 years after his debut in senior rugby? At this point, it's probably a dream he won't admit to.
Or, at the very least, he won’t be looking that far ahead.
But his vast experience, physicality and hitting ability — Sam Warburton reckons he can alter the momentum of a game with a single tackle — means he stands every chance of being in contention. “The respect he has worldwide is massive. I’ve seen older players nearing the end of their careers go up to Dan in the tunnel before a game and say: ‘Please don’t go for my knees today.’ They were genuinely fearful of him and his tackling,” Warburton told The Times last year.
“I remember playing for Cardiff Blues against the Dragons when Dan was there and looking up to see who was in the defensive line, seeing Dan and dropping the ball because I had one eye on him. That is the effect he has.”
Truly, the big man's renaissance at Test level has been good to see. Watch him in the final Test of the campaign this weekend, relishing the battle.
There are gladiators and then there’s Dan Lydiate, a player who never knows when he’s beaten.
It is Wales' good fortune to have him in their side as their series in South Africa comes to the boil.
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