When Tristan Leyds makes his Olympic debut next week for the Blitzboks in Paris, he is assured of having at least one enthusiastic fan cheering him and the team on at the iconic Stade de France.
It will, of course, be the Blitzboks playmaker’s older brother Dillyn.
The Springbok utility back will make the five-hour journey from La Rochelle, where he plays for the two-time Champions Cup winners, to the French capital.
“Yeah, we’ve been in touch, and he’s definitely coming up to support us. It’s the Olympics. It’s the biggest sporting event in the world. He just has to come,” Tristan Leyds said at Cape Town International Airport yesterday ahead of the team’s departure for France.
Tristan and the Blitzboks are certainly in desperate need of all the support they can muster after only securing their passage to Paris at the last available opportunity at the Monaco repechage tournament last month.
But Leyds believes the Blitzboks can fully embrace the unique Olympic experience now that the qualification dramas are behind them.
“The road we chose was quite rocky, but we eventually got it together at the end. We had some difficulties throughout the season, and things didn’t go our way, but we managed to pull it together at the last tournament in Monaco, which was one of our best tournaments – and hopefully we can peak at the Olympics,” he said.
LEARN from the best....@speckmagic11 pic.twitter.com/bsOtBPIVj5
— Springbok Sevens (@Blitzboks) July 16, 2024
“It is definitely going to be something different. Usually, it’s just the men’s teams in the hotel, but now we are going to have all the different sporting codes in the village, so I’m really looking forward to that as I am pretty excited to see some of my favourite sport stars.”
The former Western Province and UWC fullback is a relative rookie on the sevens circuit, after only making the switch from the 15-man code at the beginning of the year.
The transition has had its pitfalls, with Leyds having to adjust to the greater fitness demands of the explosive format and also the emphasis placed on individual defensive work within the overall game plan.
@Blitzboks are on their way to Paris 2024! 🇫🇷
Let’s get behind our team and show our support as they prepare for the Olympics. 💪🏅#TeamSA #ForMyCountry #Paris2024 pic.twitter.com/hwZ7cMcHAW
The 27-year-old has improved over the course of the year, though, and has started to showcase his natural attacking prowess with three tries in Monaco during the repechage tournament.
This new-found confidence filtered through to his kicking, as Leyds also slotted over a couple of crucial conversions.
He feels that heading to Monaco after the team missed out on automatic qualification via the World Rugby Sevens Series – and failing to win the African Championships – may ultimately prove to be a blessing in disguise.
“I think for me personally, it definitely helped. Playing my first season, coming in at the deep end, it wasn’t so great,” he said.
“But after a while you get the hang of it and you start figuring out the opposition. You find different loopholes in the game and things start working out.
“I really struggled at the start. I’m still growing tournament by tournament.
“Hopefully, the tournaments I’ve played this year will help me showcase my ability at the Olympics. I’m just embracing the space I am in.”
Team SA Sevens
Christie Grobbelaar, Ryan Oosthuizen, Impi Visser, Zain Davids, Quewin Nortjé, Tiaan Pretorius, Shaun Williams, Selvyn Davids (captain), Tristan Leyds, Rosko Specman, Siviwe Soyizwapi, Shilton van Wyk.
Travelling reserves: Ronald Brown, Katlego Letebele.
Blitzboks Pool A schedule (SA times)
Wednesday, July 24: Ireland (5.30pm), New Zealand (9.30pm)
Thursday, July 25: Japan (4pm)