The 2016 Olympic Games has finally arrived and for the first time since 1924 Rugby Union will feature on the World’s biggest stage.
Rugby 7s has taken the world by storm in recent years with its fast and brutal play making it incredibly entertaining for fans and it will be a big draw card for the Olympic Games with both Australia’s men’s and women’s qualifying for the Games and being genuine chances for bringing home medals.
2016 Olympics: Men’s Rugby 7s
The Men’s Rugby 7s will start on August 9th and the Australian’s have been put in a tough pool against the South Africans, the French and Spain.
South Africa is currently the second favourites to take out the Gold behind Fiji whilst Australia comes in at fourth with the bookmakers.
The Australians shouldn’t be written off though as they will be taking a strong squad to Brazil and showed throughout the Rugby 7s World Series that they are capable of challenging for the top spot.
They reached the final twice but weren’t able to get the job done on both occasions.
The Green and Gold are boosted by the return of Nick Malour who was crucial to the sides success in the 2014-15 season but had a disappointing end as he injured his ACL.
However, he made a successful appearance in Japan and has been included in the squad. He will bring vital experience to the team but the side will be without Nick Cummins and Henry Speight as both ran out of time recovering from their respective injuries.
We are predicting the Australian side to have a successful tournament and possibly finish with a medal. It will be crucial for them to finish in top spot of the pool to avoid a tough opponent in the quarterfinals.
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As far as the tournament winner goes, we are backing the Fijians to come out on top and not only win their countries first ever gold medal but their first medal of any kind.
The Fijians are currently ranked number 1 in the world after winning the World Series and will have the benefit of having no injury trouble heading into the Olympics.
There will be a lot of pressure on the side to come out on top with the weight of a nation on their shoulders, but that is also added motivation to bring success to a country that was hit with a terrible loss due to the cyclone in February that was felt first hand by some of the players.
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2016 Olympics: Women’s Rugby 7s
The Women’s tournament begins on the second day of the Olympics and will go for three days. The Australians were drawn in Pool A and will face Colombia, Fiji and America. It is a favourable pool and Australia should progress in first place with no trouble at all.
The Australian Women’s rugby team is ranked number 1 in the world and the favourite to take home the gold medal. Throughout the 2015-16 World Seven Series the Australians started with a bang winning the first three tournaments before they dipped in their performances. They still managed to finish third and second in the final two tournaments and the side will be boosted by the return of Gemma Etheridge from injury.
The easy pool will put the Australian’s in a great position heading into the knock out stages and we believe they will finish the tournament in top spot and add a gold medal to the tally for Australia.
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