Tristan Leyds eager to play key role for Blitzboks at Dubai Sevens

Preparing to make his debut at the Dubai Sevens this weekend, Blitzboks playmaker Tristan Leyds is eager to play a key role, insisting he won’t just be making up the numbers as the national team open their World Rugby SVNS series campaign at The Sevens stadium.

Leyds might be low on international experience compared to the rest of the Springbok Sevens squad, having made his Blitzboks debut last season, but the 27-year-old former Stormers player says he ready to make an impact as the SA team look to lay down a marker for the rest of the top-flight annual series.

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Having settled for a lowly seventh place in the 2023/24 series, Leyds said the Blitzboks were confident of getting their 2024/25 campaign off to a positive start.

“I am super excited and ready to make the most of my first tournament here,” Leyds, the brother of Springbok player Dillyn Leads, said on Thursday.

“We have a good record here, but that was not part of the discussions up to this point. The guys were rather more focussed on executing the things we worked on at training over the past couple of weeks.

“There is good clarity on what we want to do, and we are ready to go out and express ourselves.”

Embracing his role

Leyds will be an important cog in the playmaking role in the absence of the injured Selvyn Davids, but he is more than ready to embrace that role.

“I am confident in my abilities and how to express myself in the team structure, and having not played here before, it makes it an exciting prospect to go out and perform,” said Leyds.

“I had to work hard on my game since I joined last year and I feel I am coming to grips with it now.

“There was criticism on my defence, but I have worked very hard to improve that. I am confident in that area now and will not only be a number in the defensive line.”