Rugby 7s is in the Olympics in 2016.


If the Australian Olympic team is chosen on basis of form in either code, then Australia will walk it in:

[iGreg Inglis, Israel Folau, Ben Barba, Brett Morris, Jarryd Hayne, Johnathan Thurston, Cameron Smith,
[/i


But which RFL/Super League players would be good candidates for the UK Olympic team?


My choices:

[iSam Tomkins, Kallum Watkins, Kieran Dixon, Danny Brough

Sam Burgess, James Graham, James Roby, Louis McCarthy-Scarsbrook,[/i


I choose LMS because he is very fast in open field running, as well as strong

There's not much genuine pace in that team. I don't rate either of them one bit in the 13 aside game but I would certainly pick Penny and Caro for 7s.

doesn't the england 7's have a direct link with the RFU? i would be surprised to see any league players picked.

I don't believe rugby 7s specifically have links with the rfu (that's touch rugby) but I imagine they will be doing all they can to cosy up to the selectors.

Also given it will be in the middle of our season would there not be compensations needed for rl players that wouldn't for ru players?

And, predicting the players for the 2016 season seems a bit pointless! People struggle to predict whose going to be good this year let alone in 3 years time! There's a whole lot of change between now and then!

If have George North in there all day.

there's dedicated england, wales, scotland squads that just play in sevens tournaments aren't there? i would imagine the team would come from these. i could well see the aussies bolstering their squad with league players though to ensure gold. will be interesting

Seriously touch rugby is backed by the RFU?

In the uk (which is why there participation figures seem significantly higher NOT to turn this into an ru vs rl debate)

In Australia, rl backs touch rugby (there was a big thing about it middle of last season)

I've just been doing some research and it looks like the irb still has a lot of influence over 7s so I'd be surprised if any league players turned out (though I remember in 2002(maybe) Bradford bulls played in a 7s tournament and wiped the floor with everyone didn't they? So it may be a case of swallowing pride, for the sake of taking the Aussies on.

I think its kind of wrong that either of these codes are backed by another. Last time i went to the dubai 7's i am sure i saw a lot of advertising for the IRB.

Atkins strong and very fast

Not much genuine pace? Kieran Dixon is the fastest man in Super League! LMS is one of the fastest forwards ever to pull on a jersey!

George North is the only rugby union player worth picking IMO.