International Board backs British Olympic sevens team

[TRF_Cymro]

The International Rugby Board says it is happy for there to be a combined British team when rugby sevens makes its Olympic debut in Rio in 2016.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/12982888.stm​

 

[markshaw]

Could be a pretty competitive team

 

[TVH11]

very interesting news. There will obviously be a ruling over who is eligible to play. I could be wrong but isn't the football under 21's and 3 "mature" players (or something like that anyways). Would be interesting to see how the rugby ruling is like, probably be the guys playing the 7's circuits at the time (can't see full internationals playing).

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Read a piece about this which was basically saying "Boo, no big names will be in it, booo"
But to be fair: Good.

Sevens is a professional sport now, so get the sevens specialists in there - how peed off would (for example) Dan Caprice lost his place to (for example) Chris Ashton just walking into the squad

 

[TRF_Cymro]

very interesting news. There will obviously be a ruling over who is eligible to play. I could be wrong but isn't the football under 21's and 3 "mature" players (or something like that anyways). Would be interesting to see how the rugby ruling is like, probably be the guys playing the 7's circuits at the time (can't see full internationals playing).

It would be along the same lines as the Commonwealth 7s rules.

 

[DuncTheDoodle]

Banning full internationals is unfair on players such as Will Harries who got a Dragons contract thanks to playing for the 7s team, and from there worked his way to 2 senior caps.

 

[Draggs]

I think Tal Selley and Richie Pugh are legally required to be on any sevens side.

 

[Seaton]

very interesting news. There will obviously be a ruling over who is eligible to play. I could be wrong but isn't the football under 21's and 3 "mature" players (or something like that anyways). Would be interesting to see how the rugby ruling is like, probably be the guys playing the 7's circuits at the time (can't see full internationals playing).

Yeah, the football has the u23 + any 3 players, because FIFA is scared that the Olympics might overtake the world cup, so they came up with a fairly ridiculous deal

I hope the Scottish Rugby Union doesn't throw up the same fuss that their footballing counter parts have...

 

[Twitter.com/ChloePlasse]

i think you should just pick the team on merit. with all due respect, there are 7s players on the circuit for wales, england & scotland. it would be a disrespect to 7s to suggest that a player could just go from 15s to 7s. the physical requirements are different.

without knowing the fine details of eligibility, i would imagine that any 15s players with a chance of playing would switch to playing some 7s events 2-3 years before Rio 2016. i dont think we will see 15s players just turning up and slotting into a squad which will have 3 national teams vying for it!

 

[TRF_Ezequiel]

very interesting news. There will obviously be a ruling over who is eligible to play. I could be wrong but isn't the football under 21's and 3 "mature" players (or something like that anyways). Would be interesting to see how the rugby ruling is like, probably be the guys playing the 7's circuits at the time (can't see full internationals playing).

With football it's -23 and 3 players above that age are allowed.

 

[Shaggy]

i think you should just pick the team on merit. with all due respect, there are 7s players on the circuit for wales, england & scotland. it would be a disrespect to 7s to suggest that a player could just go from 15s to 7s. the physical requirements are different.

without knowing the fine details of eligibility, i would imagine that any 15s players with a chance of playing would switch to playing some 7s events 2-3 years before Rio 2016. i dont think we will see 15s players just turning up and slotting into a squad which will have 3 national teams vying for it!

Yes, pick the best available players, regardless of whether they are currently playing 15 or 7's ... because there's a gold medal at stake, you can bet that other nations will have 15's players playing in their 7's squad.

 

[Twitter.com/ChloePlasse]

Yes, pick the best available players, regardless of whether they are currently playing 15 or 7's ... because there's a gold medal at stake, you can bet that other nations will have 15's players playing in their 7's squad.

at some point, long before the olympics, those 15s players are going to have to step onto the 7s field and prove themselves. unless they do, its going to be hard to justify picking them ahead of players who are specialist 7s players. their efforts on the 15s are not a strong enough indicator of ability in 7s in my opinion.

 

[iWin]

No, but there are people like Strettle, Tait, Varndell and a couple of others who have, to a greater or lesser degree, already proven themselves on a sevens pitch.
Will be interesting to see who gets picked...

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Varndell is the only 15s player I think could go back to it reasonably well - Taits gone to plop since his 7s days, don't know if strettle could transition back - Varndell has played recently though (last year?)


Only have to look at England at London 7s to see what happens when you stick in an unproven XVs player (Steffon Armitage)

 

[iWin]

I still think Strettle is a 7s player at heart.
Still, there are plenty of 15s players with the ability and mentality, if not the experience. If they wanted to, loads could make a push for the team.
Maybe the Middlesex 7s will have more focus on it this year?

 

[smartcooky]

Some questions...

1. If a previously uncapped player is selected for and plays for this team, which of the Home Unions will his eligibility be captured for?

2. Would that player then be denied the chance to player for another country in the future?

3. How will they deal with the Irish question, i.e. will Irish players players from Ulster (Northern Ireland) play for Great Britain or Eire?

I hear the sound of a can-o-worms being opened.

 

[TRF_Olyy]

Northern Irish athletes can choose whether to represent GB or Ireland (I think that's how it goes for the Olympics, anyhow)

 

[iWin]

Simplest solution would be to simply say that a cap for GB does not bind you to a particular nation, but does bind you to one of those 4 nations.
7s caps count as senior caps, so those people would always have been prevented from playing for a non GB team.

As to the Irish thing, for the GB Olympic team, irish competitors are able to choose whether they want to represent GBR or IRL as they are eligible for dual citizenship (Wikipedia has ALL the answers)
I can only assume the exact same rules will apply for rugby.

 

[Twitter.com/ChloePlasse]

Some questions...

1. If a previously uncapped player is selected for and plays for this team, which of the Home Unions will his eligibility be captured for?

2. Would that player then be denied the chance to player for another country in the future?

3. How will they deal with the Irish question, i.e. will Irish players players from Ulster (Northern Ireland) play for Great Britain or Eire?

I hear the sound of a can-o-worms being opened.

i expect they would deal with un-capped players the same way as they would with the Lions? I guess the IRB would just regard the GB Olympic team as an invitational team. the only reason there is a problem in football is because FIFA would like the 'home nations' to merge for internal FIFA-political reasons. The IRB doesn't have that same issue--- at least not yet.

on the whole, i expect the IRB to be a lot more laid-back about this issue, rather than being a bunch of door knobs like FIFA.

 

[Shaggy]

at some point, long before the olympics, those 15s players are going to have to step onto the 7s field and prove themselves. unless they do, its going to be hard to justify picking them ahead of players who are specialist 7s players. their efforts on the 15s are not a strong enough indicator of ability in 7s in my opinion.

You may be right due to the complication of combining English, Scottish, and Welsh players ... just thought it might not be necessary to play too many sevens games as New Zealand managed to bring two 15's players who hadn't played sevens (Ben Smith and Zac Guildford), into the Commonwealth games squad, and also Liam Messam who had moved away from sevens to play 15's

i expect they would deal with un-capped players the same way as they would with the Lions? I guess the IRB would just regard the GB Olympic team as an invitational team. the only reason there is a problem in football is because FIFA would like the 'home nations' to merge for internal FIFA-political reasons. The IRB doesn't have that same issue--- at least not yet.

on the whole, i expect the IRB to be a lot more laid-back about this issue, rather than being a bunch of door knobs like FIFA.

The invitational team solution that you suggest, is probably the only workable solution ... if you selected an un-capped player, that was eligible for say Scotland and England, which nation would he be tied too - common sense would say that he would still be free to choose after the Olympics