Boots and all | Olympic repêchage is so late in the day it leaves the winning team little time to prepare for Rio
The repêchage – the last-chance saloon for the 16 teams involved – if held earlier would have given the winners the opportunity to play against the best as the invited team on the World Series
Hong Kong will be one of 16 teams fighting it out in Monaco next weekend for the final spot in the sevens competition at the Rio Olympics.
That’s right – 16 teams, one winner.
Reality has it that there is probably only three teams that are good enough to win the repêchage – 2015-16 HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series participants Samoa, Russia and Canada.
The increased level of competition these teams have been exposed to playing on the global circuit gives them a massive advantage over the other 13 teams.
On recent form you could almost safely trim that to one, with Samoa absolutely flying after winning the second last leg of the series in Paris.
Let that sink in for a minute.
