Adnaan Mohamed
Dylan Maart’s rugby journey is unfolding like a perfectly weighted grubber, unexpected, precise and suddenly impossible to ignore.
On loan from Currie Cup champions Griquas, Maart is now streaking down the touchline for the Stormers. The Wellington-born speedster is finishing tries under the bright lights of the Investec Champions Cup, leaving defenders clutching at air and selectors sitting up straighter.
Maart wasted no time announcing himself in blue and white. A debut try against Munster in Limerick was followed by a brace against La Rochelle in the Investec Champions Cup, both five-pointers delivered on a silver platter by Springbok fly-half Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu.
“Look, to get a try in the first place for the Stormers is always special,” Maart said.
“Two or three, I was very lucky to be in the right place at the right time.
“If you have someone like Sacha, who has all the talent in the world, on your inside and who can find every space, you just have to be in the right place.
“So, yes, it was exciting to get those two tries and to have a say in the team’s victory at the end of the day.”
Those early scores have propelled Maart from squad player to headline act, and now the Wellington-born speedster is preparing for another milestone: his first run-out at DHL Stadium.
“Making my debut, playing overseas for the first time and obviously the results have been going our way,” he said ahead of the Lions derby.
“I’m very excited to play my first game at the DHL Stadium in front of the home crowd … exciting times.”
The rise has been as steep as a midfield chip-and-chase.
“If I think of where I was a year ago to where I am now, I never thought I’d have the opportunity to play here at the Stormers, so I’m very grateful and very excited.”
While Maart is carving his own attacking lines, his compass points firmly towards an old friend and local hero, Springbok winger Kurt-Lee Arendse, who also cracked international rugby later than most.
“I actually didn’t play rugby until after high school, but I watched a lot of rugby,” Maart revealed.
“There’s a lot of guys that I can mention. But for me, growing up, it was Bryan Habana.
“Cheslin [Kolbe] now, as well as one of my friends, Kurt-Lee Arendse. He lives in Paarl, I’m from Wellington so he’s a guy I look up to and can always ask if I need some advice.
“He’s also a role model for me. And very inspiring also. To see that he can also make it. So, that’s something for me to look forward to.”
At 29, when many players are settled into predictable careers, Maart rolled the dice. He left his job as a warehouse worker at a bottling plant and bet everything on rugby. The risk was rooted in hardship.
“I played rugby in primary school, but nothing in high school, for various reasons.
“Things weren’t good at home. There were many nights when there was no food and we went to sleep hungry.”
At 13, he worked as a taxi guard, opening doors, collecting fares and carrying bags, just to put food on the table and secure a ride to school in Paarl. Rugby, though distant, never left his heart.
When opportunity finally knocked, Maart smashed the door down. He rose with Boland Cavaliers, became a pillar of a Griquas side that ended a 55-year Currie Cup drought, and is now lighting up the URC and Champions Cup in Stormers colours.
The Stormers’ season mirrors Maart’s surge. They are unbeaten in the Investec Champions Cup, eight wins from eight in all competitions, and positioned to host a last-16 European play-off.
Saturday’s URC clash against the Lions at DHL Stadium, only their third home game of the campaign, offers Maart another stage to sprint his late-blooming dream closer to green and gold.
Like Arendse before him, Maart is proof that in rugby, timing matters less than belief, and that some wings only truly catch the wind when the stakes are highest.
