In the wake of Olympic-fever that has
swept the nation, there have been two bit of rugby ‘news’ (the inverted commas
due to sports journalism revolving around creating
the news, rather than simply reporting anything that happens of its own accord)
in the last week relating to candidates for GB’s Rugby 7’s squad for Rio 2016.
Firstly Sir Clive Woodward (saviour of
English Rugby, destroyer of Lions Rugby) tipping Wales freak George North to
play in the tournament. Woodward’s suggestion was then followed by Ben Foden, stating
he would bend over backwards to be involved.
This got me thinking about what 7s would be like if full internationals
players were involved.
I’m deliberately getting carried away
with this idea, since I can’t see the people who pay players’ wages (clubs/countries)
allowing their top stars to miss matches and risk injury over a part of the
game that is generally considered a bit of fun.
But how good would it be if we could watch, just once every 4 years, attacking
players of the calibre of North and Foden compete in 7s against the likes of
Cory Jane, Bryan Habana and Digby Ioane?
Surely this would provide a great advert
for Rugby Union on the world stage the Olympics provides. Equally, a chance to compete in the Olympics
must be something that elite players would jump at. So, here is to a few major
countries working out a way for a few of their pretty boys to have a 7s
sabbatical in 2016.
In the same vain as the rest of this optimistic post, here’s my Team GB 7s dream team:
- Jamie Roberts
- Justin Tipuric
- Stephen Ferris
- Ben Foden
- Manu Tuilagi
- Tim Visser
- George North
Do you agree? Who would you pick?
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