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The Great Britain men's national rugby sevens team is the men's international rugby 7s team that is the representative team of Great Britain. The team competes in the annual World Rugby Sevens Series as well as the Olympic Games and European Games. Historically, Great Britain was represented in rugby 7s by England, Scotland and Wales but the inclusion of Rugby 7s at the Olympic and European Games, together with funding issues has resulted in the formation of a permanent combined team from 2023.[1] The separate England, Scotland and Wales teams play in the Rugby World Cup Sevens and the Commonwealth Games.
After first having played at the World Games in 2001 and 2005,[2] Great Britain made their debut at the 2016 Summer Olympics, where they won the silver medal, losing the final to Fiji.
History
When rugby sevens was admitted to the Summer Olympics in 2009,[3] it was not initially known how Great Britain could qualify.[4] As the three nations that make up Great Britain, England, Wales and Scotland, 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.[5] 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.[6] England secured Great Britain's qualification to the 2016 Summer Olympics by finishing fourth in the 2015Sevens World Series.[7][8]
Wales rugby sevens winger Lloyd Lewis has said that the decision to combine three nations to form GB sevens teams will limit players' opportunities. He added that a GB team means that there will be more competition for places and less availability for Welsh players.[9]
Eligibility
While England was the team that qualified Great Britain for the 2016 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.[10] 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) controversially ruled that Northern Ireland players would be compelled to represent the Ireland national rugby sevens team as rugby in Ireland is organised on an All-Ireland basis.[11] However, it was stated that Northern Irish and Ulster contracted players could legally challenge that determination, particularly if Ireland failed to qualify.[10]
A silver medal for Great Britain in the 2016 Olympics is a considerable achievement for a team that was only formed ten weeks prior the tournament. Where other teams on the sevens circuit had been preparing two years or longer, Team Great Britain coach Amor only got his players together for the first time on May 30 as England, Wales and Scotland were then competing as separate nations in the World Sevens Series.[12]
