By Duncan Wood
June 25 2002

He had a very brief Bristol playing career before returning home to South Africa. Now he is moving to Ireland and joining Carlow as their first ever player coach on a two year deal.

Dan van Zyl only had a very brief stay at Bristol last autumn. He provided scrum half cover when Agustin Pichot was on international duty with Argentina in the tests against Wales and Scotland.

His stay may have been shortlived but it was certainly eventful as he played in the west country derbies against Gloucester and Bath.

A former Springbok cap and Western Province regular, van Zyl returned home to South Africa after his Bristol stint when a longer term deal wasn't offered. There was talk about it for some time but Dean Ryan kept faith in Ross Blake and Paul Hodgson even when Pichot was injured after Christmas.

He played this season for the Mpumalanga Pumas although his hopes of playing Super 12 were denied by the presence of up and coming scrum halves, Neil de De Kock and the current the first-choice scrumhalf in South Africa, Johannes 'Bolla' Conradie.

He is now heading across to Ireland to embark on a two year player coaching stint with Irish first division side, Carlow. He sees it as the start of a new career and hopes that it could open doors for him back home in South Africa like it did for Kevin Putt who coached Terenure and then landed a job with the Natal Sharks.

He may only have been at Bristol for a short period of time but he did a tidy enough job without ever looking too spectacular. And, at the end of the day, how many Bristol players can say that they have a 100% win record against Bath?

We wish him all the best.