GB men bid to secure last sevens place at Olympics

Great Britain Sevens men's team have featured at every Olympics since its inclusion at Rio 2016

Great Britain Sevens men's squad have to win the repechage tournament starting in Monaco on Friday to secure the final place at the Olympic Games.

The event, which finishes on Sunday, is the last chance to qualify for Paris 2024 and only one of the 11 teams competing will make it to France.

Great Britain, who won a silver medal at Rio 2016, finished ninth during the 2022-23 World Rugby Sevens Series to miss out on the top four automatic qualifying spots.

Ireland then defeated Britain in the final of the 2023 European Games to gain a spot through regional qualifying, leaving Monaco as the last opportunity to qualify.

Hosts France, New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji, Australia, Uruguay, Ireland, United States, Kenya, Samoa and Japan have all qualified for the men's competition in Paris, with the GB women's team also set to compete.

Who are GB competing against?

Pool A: South Africa, Chile, Tonga, Mexico.

Pool B: Great Britain, Canada, Uganda, China.

Pool C: Spain, Hong Kong, Brazil.

*Papua New Guinea, who were in Pool C, withdrew from the tournament.

Great Britain start their campaign against China (14:28 BST) on Friday before playing Uganda (11:28) and main Pool B rivals Canada (16:32) on Saturday.

The Canadians came within one game of the Paris Olympics but were defeated by the United States 24-14 in their regional qualifying.

South Africa, who won bronze at Rio 2016, lost to Kenya in their regional qualifying event and pose the biggest threat to Great Britain.

Spain, who qualified for Rio through the repechage, reached the semi-finals of the European Games before being defeated 19-7 by Britain and will fancy their chances of qualifying for another Olympics.

The top two from each pool and the two best third-placed teams will go through to the quarter-finals.

Seeding for the quarter-finals is from a combined pool standings, meaning Britain will want to maximise their points scored in every pool match to avoid South Africa in an early knockout round.

Are GB hitting form at the right time?

Great Britain head coach Tony Roques has named a 12-player squad for the repechage tournament, which sees the return of both Tom Emery and Alex Davis.

Roques took over as coach of the GB Sevens men's team for the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 where his side were defeated by Argentina in the bronze-medal match.

Since Tokyo, Britain have lost experienced captain Tom Mitchell and all-time top try-scorer in the World Series Dan Norton, who both retired from sevens in 2022.

Scotland's Robbie Fergusson will captain GB, who over the past two seasons have struggled following the loss of their experienced Olympians and finished ninth and eighth in the World Series.

However, in March, Britain reached the final in the Los Angeles tournament, where they were defeated 21-0 by a French team inspired by Antoine Dupont.

That run to the final included wins over repechage opponents Canada as well as Australia and Spain.

This month, World Series champions France also needed extra-time to defeat Britain at the Grand Final in Madrid.

"We had our backs against the wall a little bit towards the end of the World Series with the format trying to get into that top eight and we dug out a big result to get to the final in Los Angeles," Fergusson said.

"We backed it up in Singapore getting a bronze to secure our place in the World Series which was huge for us.

"If we can get across the line and qualify on Sunday, I think that emotionally would out do the Tokyo Olympics, with everything we've been through."

The men's sevens tournament gets under way at the Olympics in Paris on 24 July, with the women's event starting on 28 July.

GB repechage squad: Kaleem Barreto, Ross McCann, Harry Glover, Morgan Williams, Robbie Fergusson (capt), Ethan Waddleton, Will Homer, Max McFarland, Jamie Barden, Charlton Kerr, Tom Emery, Alex Davis.