Sebastiaan Jobb will return to Blitzboks action after almost two years while Tristan Leyds is fit and ready for duty at next week’s Vancouver leg of the World Sevens Series.

The duo have been recalled to the Blitzbok team for the fourth tournament of the 2024-25 season after head coach Philip Snyman named his group of 13 players on Thursday.

Jobb replaces the injured Zain Davids and Leyds comes in as playmaker in place of Dewald Human from the squad that finished fourth in Perth last month.

Jobb made his debut in Hong Kong in 2023 and played in Singapore a week later in his only two tournaments to date, while Leyds starred for the Blitzboks in their tournament victory in Cape Town in December before picking up a hand injury that ruled him out of the Perth tournament.

The Blitzboks won at BC Place in 2019 and 2021 and Snyman is confident his tweaks will deliver similair results.

“Both Tristan and Sebastiaan will add to the dynamics of the squad and I am know they will be very competitive in their pool matches against New Zealand, Ireland and Australia,” he said.

“Sebastiaan’s inclusion is well deserved as he worked very hard over the last couple of months. In fact, he was already close to selection for the Olympic Games last year. He was unlucky with untimely injuries over the last couple of seasons, but he is ready to play.”

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The 25-year-old Jobb has played for the Junior Springboks and Vodacom Bulls in the Currie Cup earlier in his career and Snyman said the fact that he replaces Zain Davids, a forward, points to a tactical change in their approach for the Canada event: “We will play on an artificial pitch, where the game will be faster, and Sebastiaan’s pace will be a huge factor.”

The Blitzbok coach is also excited about the energy and skill set that come with Leyds’ inclusion: “He had two very good outings in Dubai and Cape Town and slotted right back in. Tristan comes in for Dewald Human, who has now played three tournaments on the trot and deserves a bit of a rest.”

Snyman said Human will have an important task back at Stellenbosch once the squad have departed for Canada on Saturday.

“We have a strong group of players that will be working hard back home in order to be in contention for the next trip to Hong Kong in March and Dewald has a big role in that regard, explaining our playbook to them,” he said.

“This group include Tiaan Pretorius and Masande Mtshali, who are well on their way to full recovery from injury, as well as Mfundo Ndhlovu, Rowan Malgas and Gino Cupido in particular, who will play a role in the remainder of the series.”

The Blitzboks will face New Zealand in their first pool match, before taking on Ireland and Australia, and Snyman said it’s a tough start.

“We prefer it that way, as you need to be swicthed on from the start – in fact, the tougher the start, the better we do as we saw in Cape Town earlier in the series,” said Snyman.

“We have done analysis on all teams before the season started and will fine tune our approach once we see what squads they selected, but the main focus will always be on ourselves and how we want to play the game.”

Blitzboks’ Pool B fixtures (SA times):
Friday, 21 February: v New Zealand (10:02pm)
Saturday, 22 February: v Ireland (3:29am), v Australia (9:14am)

Photo: Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Image