Ben-Jason Dixon battles through injury and off-field hurdles to earn 'surprise' Springbok recall

It’s been a rather eventful 12 months for Springbok loose forward Ben-Jason Dixon — most of it off the field.

After making his Bok debut in 2024, Dixon and the Stormers were involved in a bit of a stand-off over his contract towards the end of the previous United Rugby Championship season. The two parties were in disagreement over the interpretation of a release clause in his current deal, which runs until 2027.

This was also during the time when Dixon was nursing a wrist injury, which eventually kept him out of the Springboks’ June and July Tests against the Barbarians, Italy and Georgia. After that, he also failed to make South Africa’s Rugby Championship squad due to an obvious lack of game time following the injury.

Since then, the contract issues have been resolved following the outcome of an independent arbitration — the process found Dixon’s contract to be binding, with no revisions applicable. His wrist injury is also a thing of the past.

That has allowed Dixon to focus purely on matters on the field, and he has made a brilliant start to the Stormers’ new URC campaign, which has seen him return to the Bok fold.

Dixon was included in coach Rassie Erasmus’ 36-man Bok squad for their November Tests, giving him a chance to rekindle his Test career after playing his last match in green and gold more than a year ago, against Argentina in Santiago.

“I’m very excited to get back to the Boks. I had to wait a while to get back in the mix. I’m surprised to be back in the squad, but I’m excited about the opportunity,” Dixon told the media this week.

“It’s always a high level and you have to do your best. I’m looking forward to being back in that environment and being back with players who I haven’t seen in a while.”

Surprised by the call-up, Dixon conceded that he perhaps wasn’t at his best before the wrist injury curtailed his chances of getting onto the park towards the end of the last campaign.

However, he used the time to work on his conditioning and physicality. At his best, Dixon is a rangy No 7, in the mould of Pieter-Steph du Toit, with a high work rate and sharp rugby brain.

“I had to get surgery on my wrist. I was supposed to be out for between four and six months, but the recovery was much faster. By the time the Bok season started, I was basically ready to play and had some ants in the pants to be part of the squad,” Dixon revealed.

“But I can understand (why I wasn’t selected), because I feel I didn’t have the best URC campaign before that. But this was a good time for me to work on a few things physically — some time in the gym to get back to that level where I wanted to be.

“I trained a bit with the Currie Cup guys, so I had a good pre-season with the rest of the URC group. I enjoyed it, and I feel I’m ready again to play some good rugby.”

Before joining up with the Boks next week, Dixon and the Stormers’ other Springboks are likely to be involved this weekend in their clash against Benetton in Treviso, Italy, on Saturday (6.30pm kick-off).

Dixon says he remains focused on the job at hand and will think about the Springboks only after the weekend.

“We still have to pick the side, but I’m still in the Stormers camp this week. I’m still gonna give 100 percent — but a better 100 percent than last week,” said Dixon.

“I’m not going to hold back, and I’m sure the coaching staff aren’t going to wrap me in cotton wool either.”