RUGBY sevens is set for its second outing after Team GB’s men won a silver medal at Rio 2016.
The short version of rugby union, sevens is a fast paced, end-to-end, action packed and thoroughly entertaining variant of rugby.
Sevens is played on the standard rugby sized pitch, but with seven players from each side rather than the usual 15 players in a full union match.
The event was one of Rio 2016’s most popular games, and has grown in popularity to the extent that it has now been granted full Olympic status.
On the 27th July 2020, the Tokyo 2020 Olympic rugby sevens will kick off, with 3 days of men’s competition followed by 3 days of the women’s event.
A regular sevens match usually consists of two halves of seven minutes with a one-minute half time break.
The shortness of games enables plenty of matches to be played during the course of a single day, hence its popularity.
Teams consist of three forwards and four backs (including one scrum-half), meaning that there is plenty of opportunity for the ball runners and play makers to really to show off their talent.
And as you can imagine, on a full sized pitch and as a full contact sport there will be lots of space to fill as players will have their work cut out to try and cover ground whilst putting in those tackles.
A good sevens player are often backs or loose forwards from a 15s rugby match as they need to be extremely agile to keep up with the end-to-end attacking nature of the game.
The scoring system remains the same as the standard 15-a-side game, with five points for a try, three for both penalties and drop goals and two for a conversion.
The men’s took silver at Rio 2016 whilst the women’s finished fourth place last time out- although this time out, both teams will have more artillery.
Abbie Brown and Megan Jones will co-captain the women’s squad, which also features a number of players who have experience playing on the World Rugby Sevens Series and have played international rugby for a number of years.
2014 World Cup winner Natasha Hunt is set for her second Games along with Brown and Jasmine Joyce.
Meanwhile, Tom Mitchell will lead the men’s squad which includes four players who competed in Rio, including all-time World Rugby Sevens Series leading try scorer Dan Norton.
Holly Aitchison
Abbie Brown
Abi Burton
Deborah Fleming
Natasha Hunt
Megan Jones
Jasmine Joyce
Alex Matthews
Celia Quansah
Helena Rowland
Hannah Smith
Emma Uren
Women’s reserve: Lisa Thomson
Dan Bibby
Alec Coombes
Alex Davis
Robbie Fergusson
Harry Glover
Ben Harris
Ollie Lindsay-Hague
Ross McCann
Max McFarland
Tom Mitchell
Dan Norton
Ethan Waddleton
Men’s reserve: Tom Bowen
In total, 12 teams compete at the Olympics in both women’s and men’s categories.
In the men’s competition, Fiji, USA, New Zealand and South Africa qualified via the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and Japan as hosts.
In addition, Argentina, Australia, Ireland, Canada, Great Britain, Kenya and Korea also booked their places via regional qualifiers.
In the women’s, New Zealand, USA, Canada and Australia qualified through the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series and Japan as hosts.
In addition, regional qualifier winners are Brazil, Russia, France, China, Fiji, Great Britain and Kenya also qualified.
The Olympic Sevens will be played at the Tokyo Stadium, which hosted 8 matches during the 2019 Rugby World Cup.
Here’s the official schedule:
*All times in Japan Standard Time (JST)
Venue: Tokyo Stadium
Time: 1am to 4pm UK (9am to 12 Noon Japan)
Time: 8.30am to 11.30am UK (4.30pm to 7.30pm Japan)
Time: 1am to 4pm UK (9am to 12 Noon Japan)
Time: 8.30am to 11.30am UK (4.30pm to 7.30pm Japan)
Time: 1am to 4pm UK (9am to 12 Noon Japan)
Time: 8.30am to 11am UK (4.30pm to 7pm Japan)
Time: 1am to 4pm UK (9am to 12 Noon Japan)
Time: 8.30am to 11.30am UK (4.30pm to 7.30pm Japan)
Time: 1am to 4pm UK (9am to 12 Noon Japan)
Time: 8.30am to 11.30am UK (4.30pm to 7.30pm Japan)
Time: 1am to 4pm UK (9am to 12 Noon Japan)
Time: 8.30am to 11am UK (4.30pm to 7pm Japan)
