Tristan Roberts (born 23 March 1987 in

Maidstone Maidstone is the largest Town status in the United Kingdom, town in Kent, England, of which it is the county town. Maidstone is historically important and lies east-south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town, l ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

) is a

rugby union Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...

player who currently plays for

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in the borough of Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole, Surrey, River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London, close to the London–Surrey border; with Esher Commons at its ...

National League 1 National One, up until 2023 known as National League 1 and previously known before September 2009 as National Division Two), is the third of three national leagues in the domestic rugby union competition of England. It was known as Courage Lea ...

, having previously been at

US Cognac Union Sportive Cognaçaise is a French rugby union club, based in Cognac in the Charente département (Nouvelle-Aquitaine region). They play at the Parc des Sports (capacity 2,800), and wear white and red. They were founded on 2 December 1898 an ...

( France's third division) and

Ealing Trailfinders Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club is an English professional rugby union club based in West London. The club's first team are the reigning RFU Championship champions of 2024–25 but were considered ineligible for promotion to Premiership Rugby a ...

(

RFU Championship The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

). He has represented both the England Students and the

England Counties XV England Counties XV is a representative rugby union team, formed in 2002, open to English players who play in the County Championship and the third tier (and below) of the English rugby union system. Players from the Premiership and RFU Champi ...

and during his rugby career has progressed from playing in the fourth tier with

Cinderford Cinderford is a town and civil parish on the eastern fringe of the Forest of Dean in Gloucestershire, England. The population was 8,777 at the 2021 Census. The town came into existence in the 19th century, following the rapid expansion of the ...

to playing in the Premiership with

London Welsh London Welsh Rugby Football Club () was a rugby union club formed in 1885. Based in Old Deer Park, Richmond-upon-Thames, London Welsh RFC played in the English Premiership in the 2012–13 and 2014–15 seasons, after gaining promotion from ...

. Tristan has played much of his career at

fly-half In the game of rugby union, there are 15 players on each team, comprising eight forwards (wearing jerseys numbered 1–8) and seven backs (numbered 9–15). In addition, there may be up to eight replacement players "on the bench", numbered 16� ...

and has a reputation as a very reliable points kicker who is also excellent at

drop kick A drop kick is a type of kick in various codes of football. It involves a player intentionally dropping the ball onto the ground and then kicking it either (different sports have different definitions) 'as it rises from the first bounce' ( rugby ...

Playing career

Early career

A late developer when it came to rugby union, Tristan focused on

hockey ''Hockey'' is a family of List of stick sports, stick sports where two opposing teams use hockey sticks to propel a ball or disk into a goal. There are many types of hockey, and the individual sports vary in rules, numbers of players, apparel, ...

at school playing at county level. He first started seriously playing rugby at 16 and found that this was the sport for him, appearing for the youth team of his local rugby team -

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506, situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lo ...

. At 17 he moved to Hartpury College to further his rugby education and was later picked up by

, then playing in

National Division Three South National League 2 South (known before September 2009 as National Division Three South) was a level four league in the English rugby union system until the end of season 2021–22. It was one of two leagues at this level, with its counterpart, N ...

, and was made part of the squad for the 2006-07 season. Tristan made 11 appearances in his first season, scoring 105 points including four drop kicks which earned him call-ups for both

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

and English Counties XV at the end of 2007. A second season for the Gloucestershire side saw Tristan become a regular fixture in the first team, finishing as the fourth top points scorer in the league with 187 points from 19 games, and helping ultimately helping Cinderford to gain promotion to National Division Two (although he did not feature in their playoff game). After impressing at Cinderford, Tristan was picked up by

Gloucester Gloucester ( ) is a cathedral city, non-metropolitan district and the county town of Gloucestershire in the South West England, South West of England. Gloucester lies on the River Severn, between the Cotswolds to the east and the Forest of Dean ...

where he would become part of their academy squad. He played a number of academy games but was unable to instantly break into the first team and was instead loaned to

Moseley Moseley ( ') is an affluent suburb in south Birmingham, England, south of the city centre. It is located within the eponymous Moseley ward of the constituency of Birmingham Hall Green and Moseley (UK Parliament constituency), Hall Green and ...

for experience.

Moseley

Tristan joined the Moseley for the start of the 2008-09 season plying his trade in

National Division One The RFU Championship is an English rugby union competition comprising twelve clubs. It is the second level of men's English rugby and is played by both professional and semi-professional players. The competition has existed since 1987, when Eng ...

. Despite playing at a league two levels higher than that of Cinderford, Tristan managed to play 22 games in all competitions, scoring 169 points, helping the Birmingham-based side to a mid-table position and also contributing 10 points against

Leeds Carnegie Leeds Carnegie was a brand name used by several sports teams associated with the Carnegie School of Physical Education, now part of Leeds Beckett University Leeds Beckett University (LBU), formerly known as Leeds Metropolitan University (LM ...

Twickenham Twickenham ( ) is a suburban district of London, England, on the River Thames southwest of Charing Cross. Historic counties of England, Historically in Middlesex, since 1965 it has formed part of the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames, who ...

to claim the 2009 EDF Energy National Trophy 23 - 18. Changes to the English league system saw National Division One be rebranded to the Championship for the 2009-10 season and with only 12 teams it was much more competitive with Moseley finishing 9th at the end of the regular season and being placed in the new format relegation group. Moseley survived the relegation group by finishing 2nd and Tristan had the best season of his career in scoring terms - being the top scorer in the league at the end of the regular season and finishing 3rd overall with 267 points from 26 games.

Doncaster Knights / Bristol

After two seasons at Moseley, Tristan moved north to join

Doncaster Knights Doncaster Knights Rugby Football Club ''(formerly, Doncaster RFC)'' are a professional rugby union club representing the city of Doncaster, England. The club play in the 2nd division of English rugby, the RFU Championship. Being the most prom ...

. He only spent a year at Castle Park but scored 358 points in 30 games across all competitions which attracted the interest of former Premiership team

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

who signed Tristan for the 2011-12 season. Although he had a good first season for Bristol, the club failed to win promotion despite topping the league table, as they went out of the playoff semi finals due to a shock 53 - 63 aggregate defeat to the

Cornish Pirates The Cornish Pirates () are a professional rugby union team who play in the RFU Championship, Championship, the second level of the English rugby union pyramid, and are the premier Cornish rugby club. The Cornish Pirates team are the 'First XV' o ...

. The ever increasing pressure at Bristol to gain promotion would lead to Tristan becoming a squad player rather than starter and he was released at the end of 2014, joining

in the summer.

London Welsh / Ealing Trailfinders

It was somewhat ironic that despite being released by Bristol he managed to achieve something they were desperate for - Premiership rugby - which Welsh had gained at Bristol's expense. Other than that it was neither a good season for Tristan or his club as they struggled to attract fans to their ground at Oxford and were relegated from the Premiership having failed to win a single game. Although Tristan played a number of matches he was unable to become a regular and left the club in 2015 to join

. After the 2015–16 season Tristan left Ealing to start a new adventure in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

with

who play in

Fédérale 1 The championnat de France de rugby à XV de 1re division fédérale (), a.k.a. Fédérale 1 (), is a French rugby union club competition, it is the elite of amateur rugby in France. The competition has been organised by the Fédération Français ...

(division 3 of the French rugby union league system).

Season-by-season stats

Honours

Moseley * EDF Energy National Trophy: 2009 International/Representative *Represented England Students *Represented Kent *Called up for

tour of south-east France: 2007

References

External links

Gloucester profileDoncaster profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Roberts, Tristan 1987 births Living people Bristol Bears players Cinderford R.F.C. players Doncaster Knights players Ealing Trailfinders Rugby Club players English rugby union players Esher RFC players Gloucester Rugby players London Welsh RFC players Birmingham Moseley Rugby players Rugby union players from Maidstone Rugby union fly-halves