Great Britain national rugby sevens team

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Great Britain
Flag of the United Kingdom.svg
Union British Olympic Association
First international
 Australia 21 - 0 Great Britain 
(25 August 2001)
Largest win
 Great Britain 26 - 7 Japan 
(22 June 2005)
Largest defeat
 South Africa 52 - 0 Great Britain 
(23 June 2005)

The Great Britain national rugby sevens team is the men's Olympic representative team of Great Britain at the rugby sevens tournament at the Summer Olympic Games. After having played at the World Games in 2001 and 2005.,[1] they will make their Olympic debut in the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Olympic history

When rugby sevens was admitted to the Summer Olympics in 2009,[2] it was not initially known how Great Britain could qualify.[3] As England, Wales and Scotland; three of the nations that make up Great Britain all compete separately in international competition, it was suggested that if any of them gained a qualifying spot then Great Britain would qualify. However, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the International Rugby Board (IRB), stated that Great Britain must select a lead nation to be the only one able to gain the qualification spot.[4] The individual British rugby unions selected England to be the lead nation as the Rugby Football Union was the only British union to fund a full-time rugby sevens programme.[5] England secured Great Britain's qualification to the 2016 Summer Olympics by finishing fourth in the 2015 Sevens World Series.[6][7]

Eligibility

While England was the team that qualified Great Britain for the Olympics, the Great Britain national rugby sevens team is able to select players from Wales and Scotland as well as England similar to the British and Irish Lions in rugby union.[8] Northern Irish players according to the British Olympic Association's rules as British citizens would have been eligible to play for Great Britain; however the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) demanded that they only play for the Ireland national rugby sevens team as rugby in Ireland is organised on an All-Ireland basis.[9] However, it was stated that Northern Irish and Ulster contracted players could legally challenge that determination, particularly if Ireland failed to qualify.[8]

Current squad

Wider Training Squad for 2016 Olympic Games

Player
Club
Cory Allen Cardiff Blues
Mark Bennett Glasgow Warriors
Dan Bibby England Sevens
Tom Bowen England Sevens
Phil Burgess England Sevens
Sam Cross Wales Sevens
James Davies Scarlets
Alex Davis England Sevens
Richard de Carpentier England Sevens
Jamie Farndale Scotland Sevens
Alex Gray England Sevens
Charlie Hayter England Sevens
Warwick Lahmert England Sevens
Ollie Lindsay-Hague Harlequins
Gavin Lowe Scotland Sevens
Ruaridh McConnochie England Sevens
Tom Mitchell England Sevens
Luke Morgan Wales Sevens
Dan Norton England Sevens
Scott Riddell Scotland Sevens
Mark Robertson Scotland Sevens
James Rodwell England Sevens
Joe Simpson Wasps
Luke Treharne Wales Sevens
Marcus Watson Newcastle Falcons

References

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