The Old Diocesan Issue 13 - Magazine - Page 82
Western Cape, turning out for
UWC, winning the Varsity Shield
and helping them into the Varsity
Cup for the first time. Then came
Covid. The disruptions of 2020 and
2021 were particularly devastating
for a young sportsman still trying
to make a name for himself;
in effect, a season and a half
simply vanished. Still, he made
his Western Province debut in
2021, graduating to the broader
Stormers squad and a URC debut.
And then, just as he was gaining
momentum, came his third major
setback: a syndesmosis ankle injury
in 2023. Tristan’s smile turns wry
when he recalls this period. Dillyn
was thriving at La Rochelle, the
Stormers were playing great rugby
and going deep in the URC, but he
barely played competitive rugby
for 18 months. “Sometimes – and
not everyone wants to hear this
– we do have to hit rock bottom to
not necessarily just find ourselves,
but to build the character we need
to progress into a successful
career,” he says.
He didn’t quite appreciate it at
the time, but his big break came
in July 2023, when he was invited
to train with the Blitzboks. With
his 15s career in limbo, he decided
to give it a go, making his debut at
the Perth SVNS Series tournament
in January 2024. And with that, his
career was reinvented. Six months
later he was playing at the Paris
Olympics, where the Blitzboks
sneaked a bronze medal – a coup
that proved to be a turning point
in the team’s fortunes.
In December 2024 they won the
Cape Town leg of the SVNS tour
for the first time since 2015. In May
2025 they won in Los Angeles, and
Tristan has compiled an impressive medal haul with the Blitzboks – and this
shot excludes one that was acquired by his niece, Dillyn’s daughter, in France…
in December they repeated their
Cape Town triumph. In February
and March this year, they won
tournaments in Perth, Vancouver
and New York, the last of these
clinched by a Tristan Leyds try in
the corner against Fiji, which saw
the Blitzboks crowned SVNS Series
champions. In April they finally
laid their greatest bogey to rest,
winning the Hong Kong Sevens
for the first time ever, and in June
they were crowned 2026 HSBC
SVNS World Champions.
It’s sometimes hard to keep
track of what’s what on the
sevens circuit, with the format’s
most iconic tournament, Hong
Kong, retaining the proper English
spelling – “Sevens”, as it should be
– while the distinction between
SVNS Series champions and
World Champions seems a little
mercenary. But whatever the
nomenclature, the Blitzboks have
been on a tear, with Tristan at the
“I’m doing a lot of self-work, introspective work,
to see how I can become better as a human
and a rugby player.”
78 | THE OLD DIOCESAN
forefront as on-field general.
He was Player of the Final in both
Vancouver and Hong Kong, and his
rise has been such that, along with
his various medals, he finished the
2025/26 season with the standout
accolade on the circuit: Men’s
Player of the Year.
When I ask Tristan how he has
raised his game to such heights, he
credits pre-season goal-setting and
a new mental approach, involving
plenty of visualisation off the field
and a concerted effort to get his
teammates on the same page on
the field. Communication is key
in sevens – the team saying is
Kommunikeer of kom in die kak (no
translation needed). But Tristan is
trying to take this a step further:
“If we can think alike, it will be
better on the field.”
Beyond that, he prioritised
consistency this season. “My
goal was to be the best flyhalf
or first receiver in our system,”
he says. “The best general. Guys
who have been there before me
include the likes of Cecil Afrika,
Renfred Dazel, Rosko Specman,
Branco du Preez. They are big shoes
to fill. Sometimes, especially when
