Hong Kong Sevens 2022: farewell England but welcome Team Great Britain
- There’s a new team for a new World Rugby Sevens Series season and a new future for the England, Scotland and Wales set-ups
- ‘I think it gives parity, and GB a better chance rather than having to pull a miracle out of the bag,’ says former England captain Ollie Phillips
It was 20 years ago that England finally broke through for their first Cathay Pacific/HSBC Hong Kong Sevens title but if there are any celebrations to mark the occasion this year they will be muted.
That’s because England, as a sevens side, don’t actually exist any more as the fates – in the form of pure financial necessity – have seen the “Team Great Britain” concept that has been used in the Olympics now take root in the World Rugby Sevens Series.
It’s all about long-term strategy, with an eye on those Olympics of the future and on producing one fully competitive unit, rather than teams from England, Scotland and Wales that are struggling for funds and to be consistently competing at the business end of tournaments.
And that’s the line taken by the Rugby Football Union, when the concept was ratified back in July, who said the move would “embrace this new era in the World Series moving forward”.
“It is the right way forward, giving Team GB a real opportunity to go to the Olympic Games with the right preparation, to compete on a level playing field with other sevens programmes and most importantly enables us all to give certainty to staff and players as to the future of the programme,” RFU performance director Conor O’Shea told the British Olympics team’s official website.
