Olympic Sevens 2016 Selection + Qualification - How will it work?

[Thingimubob]

Since we've now just 4 years away from finally seeing some egg chasing with an olympivlogo slapped on it, its got me wondering how exactly a few things will work with it. First thign, how exactly will teams qualify? If you look at the football, teams qualify via u20 championships, so at a guess it'll be down to placing in the sevens world rankings. However (like the football), makes things awkward when it comes to GB, since the nations compete separately outside the Olympics, if for example just England qualify, do GB get a spot?

Selection is another question too, since a lot of nations have different policies on how they use sevens. Wales for example use it pretty much exclusively as a way to give younger players experience, with the likes of Cuthbert, Harry Robinson, Lloyd Williams being recent examples of players coming through the system. Others I've seen tend to have a few sevens specialists, off the top of my head I cant remember any ones around these days, though I do remember the likes of DJ Forbes, Ben Gollings and Waisale Serevi. Or, you could chuck in the big names of the 15 a side game, who I could see jumping at the chance to become Olympians! So do you go with the normal sevens squads or do you let the stars have a crack.
I'd love to see the likes of North, Carter, Tuilagi and Beale playing sevens, especially in such a big event!

 

[usausa]

The plan is that it will be a 12 team tournament although they could do 16. The IOC though seems to favor a 12 team tourney. Here is the plan for qualification from the IRB's Sevens Strategic Report.

A. Men's Qualification Process
• The Men's Olympic qualification process will have three stages:
• Stage 1 - HSBC Sevens World Series
• Stage 2 - Regional Olympic Qualification Tournaments (ROQTs)
• Stage 3 - World Olympic Qualification Tournament (WOQT)
• Four teams will qualify directly from the HSBC SWS into the Olympics based on Rankings achieved in the 2014/15 HSBC
Sevens World Series
• England, Scotland and Wales will participate in the HSBC SWS as individual countries (should they qualify as core
teams) with the highest ranked team in the top four of the 2014/15 HSBC SWS rankings qualifying Great Britain into the
Olympics. Should one of the countries fail to get a top four ranking then the GB countries will attempt to qualify through
the Regional FIRA-AER tournament and subsequently the World Olympic Qualification Tournament
• Six teams will qualify from Regional Olympic Qualification Tournaments to be held in 2015 with a quota of one team from
each IRB Region securing direct qualification
• Two teams will qualify from a final World Olympic Qualification Tournament which will be the final stage in the Olympic
Qualification process and can take place any time up until two weeks prior to the Rio 2016 Games. The tournament could
be a 12 or 16 team format
• Teams will qualify into the World Olympic Qualification Tournament based on rankings achieved in their respective
Regional Olympic Qualifications Tournaments with an agreed quota of places from each Region to be determined by the
IRB
• If the Host Country is given an automatic qualification place then only one team will qualify from the World Olympic
Qualification Tournament

Source: http://www.irb.com/mm/document/aboutirb/irborganisation/02/06/18/19/120327ljrugbysevensplanfinal.pdf

 

[nickdnz]

Since we've now just 4 years away from finally seeing some egg chasing with an olympivlogo slapped on it, its got me wondering how exactly a few things will work with it. First thign, how exactly will teams qualify? If you look at the football, teams qualify via u20 championships, so at a guess it'll be down to placing in the sevens world rankings. However (like the football), makes things awkward when it comes to GB, since the nations compete separately outside the Olympics, if for example just England qualify, do GB get a spot?

Selection is another question too, since a lot of nations have different policies on how they use sevens. Wales for example use it pretty much exclusively as a way to give younger players experience, with the likes of Cuthbert, Harry Robinson, Lloyd Williams being recent examples of players coming through the system. Others I've seen tend to have a few sevens specialists, off the top of my head I cant remember any ones around these days, though I do remember the likes of DJ Forbes, Ben Gollings and Waisale Serevi. Or, you could chuck in the big names of the 15 a side game, who I could see jumping at the chance to become Olympians! So do you go with the normal sevens squads or do you let the stars have a crack.
I'd love to see the likes of North, Carter, Tuilagi and Beale playing sevens, especially in such a big event!

It's an interesting question, something that I've thought a lot about. Right know in New Zealand, the emphasis has gone on building a specialist 7's squad rather than recruiting other players. That being said, in the last commonwealth we saw both Laim Messam and Hosea Gear feature heavily for New Zealand, and with the huge range of talent NZ has in the outside backs, I have to feel not utilizing some of it would be a waste (I'd say a one year training period would be good!).

As talented as Carter is, I feel a playmaker roll needs to be a specialist position (though a chance for Carter to win a gold medal would make me very happy, he'll be 34 then though). Tomasi Cama is probably the best playmaker in the world at the moment, but I'm not sure he'll be able to keep it up (he'll be 35!). I actually think New Zealand best possible playmaker option would be Buxton Popoali'i, who has breif Highlanders apparences and pl;ays for Otago. I think 7's is where he could be great, as his top pace isn't amazing for a winger, but he has a better step than anyone and can read a game well.

We've seen players like Jonah Lomu, Christian Cullen, Joe Rokocoko, Rico Gear, Hosea Gear, Israel Dagg etc all stand out at 7's, so I'd be more than happy to see an outstanding outside back be included, but that's where I draw the line. There are also a few positions for players like Scott Waldrom, Liam Messam and Victor Vito who can transfer those skills. All depends how much training I guess goes into it beforehand.

I'm equally interested to see if countries like USA and Japan can get their top outside backs like Ngwenya (who could be amazing at 7's) off of club rugby duties.

 

[welshglory]

If the WRU could afford to fully professionalise and specialise the 7's programme i'm pretty sure they would.

 

[psychic duck]

It's an interesting question, something that I've thought a lot about. Right know in New Zealand, the emphasis has gone on building a specialist 7's squad rather than recruiting other players. That being said, in the last commonwealth we saw both Laim Messam and Hosea Gear feature heavily for New Zealand, and with the huge range of talent NZ has in the outside backs, I have to feel not utilizing some of it would be a waste (I'd say a one year training period would be good!).

As talented as Carter is, I feel a playmaker roll needs to be a specialist position (though a chance for Carter to win a gold medal would make me very happy, he'll be 34 then though). Tomasi Cama is probably the best playmaker in the world at the moment, but I'm not sure he'll be able to keep it up (he'll be 35!). I actually think New Zealand best possible playmaker option would be Buxton Popoali'i, who has breif Highlanders apparences and pl;ays for Otago. I think 7's is where he could be great, as his top pace isn't amazing for a winger, but he has a better step than anyone and can read a game well.

We've seen players like Jonah Lomu, Christian Cullen, Joe Rokocoko, Rico Gear, Hosea Gear, Israel Dagg etc all stand out at 7's, so I'd be more than happy to see an outstanding outside back be included, but that's where I draw the line. There are also a few positions for players like Scott Waldrom, Liam Messam and Victor Vito who can transfer those skills. All depends how much training I guess goes into it beforehand.

I'm equally interested to see if countries like USA and Japan can get their top outside backs like Ngwenya (who could be amazing at 7's) off of club rugby duties.

I agree with you in the main there TRF_nickdnz.

I would feel very sorry for players who have played on the Sevens circuit all season to be pushed out of the Olympics for players who would have no interest in Sevens outside the Olympics.

But at the same time there are some very good Sevens players who normally play XV who could perhaps improve.

I think you make a fair compromise that the XV players who wish to play in the Olympics should do some training and play a bit on the circuit beforehand to make the Olympics team, although nations with smaller playing pools wouldn't be able to do that (USA for example wouldn't get Ngwenya off Biarritz).

Another thing to consider is that there are just 12 nations playing in the Olympics (half the amount in the Sevens World Cup), so I expect there will be quite a competitive qualifying system. So some of the XV players who want to turn up for the Olympics, should help out qualifying as well, as some big nations might not be guaranteed to qualify.

 

[William18]

The difficult thing for the Southern Hemisphere teams is that the end of Super Rugby/ the start of The Rugby Championship will be occurring at the same time as the Olympics. If players want to play in the Olympics then they are going to have to give up money for one thing. For me personally The Rugby Championship > Sevens gold medal, it's up to the players whether or not they feel the same way I guess.

 

[kovana]

Since it will be a 12 team tournament.... Some idea is:

- Brazil automatically qualified as host nation (confirmed in a recent IRB article)

The next 11.. not so sure but heard it would be like so:

- Top 4 from the IRB Series ranking (i guess this would include GB if any of the GB nations make it)

Then 1 from each of the IRB regional associations

- 1 Oceania
- 1 Europe
- 1 Africa
- 1 North Americas
- 1 South Americas
- 1 Asia

PLUS 1 Repercharge,,,

Voila.. 12 teams!

 

[BZHopenside]

Interesting that they're not just entering a Lions-style sevens team for GB.

 

[welshglory]

It's kind of a non brainer.

Ireland is not part of GB and they don't want the Northern Irish players to play for them either.