The Great Britain national rugby sevens team is the men's international rugby 7s team that is the representative team of Great Britain. After having played at the

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2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

and 2005, they made their Olympic debut at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

, where they won the silver medal, losing the final to

Fiji Fiji ( , ,; fj, Viti, ; Fiji Hindi: फ़िजी, ''Fijī''), officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists ...

Olympic history

When rugby sevens was admitted to the Summer Olympics in 2009, it was not initially known how Great Britain could qualify. As the three nations that make up Great Britain,

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

and

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

, all compete separately in international competition, it was suggested that if any of them gained a qualifying spot then Great Britain would qualify. However, the

International Olympic Committee The International Olympic Committee (IOC; french: link=no, Comité international olympique, ''CIO'') is a non-governmental sports organisation based in Lausanne, Switzerland. It is constituted in the form of an association under the Swiss ...

(IOC) and the

International Rugby Board World Rugby is the world governing body for the sport of rugby union. World Rugby organises the Rugby World Cup every four years, the sport's most recognised and most profitable competition. It also organises a number of other international rug ...

(IRB), stated that Great Britain must select a lead nation to be the only one able to gain the qualification spot. The individual British rugby unions selected England to be the lead nation as the

Rugby Football Union The Rugby Football Union (RFU) is the Sports governing body, national governing body for rugby union in England. It was founded in 1871, and was the sport's international governing body prior to the formation of what is now known as World Rugby ...

was the only British union to fund a full-time rugby sevens programme. England secured Great Britain's qualification to the

by finishing fourth in the

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Sevens World Series The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the com ...

. Wales rugby sevens winger Lloyd Lewis has said that the decision to combine three nations to form GB sevens teams will limit players' opportunities. He added that a GB team means that there will be more competition for places and less availability for Welsh players.

Eligibility

While England was the team that qualified Great Britain for the 2016 Olympics, the Great Britain national rugby sevens team is able to select players from Wales and Scotland as well as England similar to the

British and Irish Lions The British & Irish Lions is a rugby union team selected from players eligible for the national teams of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The Lions are a test side and most often select players who have already played for their national ...

in rugby union. Northern Irish players according to the

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's rules as British citizens would have been eligible to play for Great Britain; however the

Irish Rugby Football Union The Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU) ( ga, Cumann Rugbaí na hÉireann) is the body managing rugby union in the island of Ireland (both Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland). The IRFU has its head office at 10/12 Lansdowne Road and home ...

(IRFU) announced that Northern Ireland players would represent the

Ireland national rugby sevens team The Ireland national rugby sevens team competes in several international rugby sevens competitions. The team is governed by the Irish Rugby Football Union (IRFU). Ireland competes as a "core team" on the World Rugby Sevens Series, a competitio ...

as rugby in

Ireland Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Grea ...

is organised on an

All-Ireland All-Ireland (sometimes All-Island) refers to all of Ireland, as opposed to the separate jurisdictions of the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. "All-Ireland" is most frequently used to refer to sporting teams or events for the entire islan ...

basis. However, it was stated that Northern Irish and

Ulster Ulster (; ga, Ulaidh or ''Cúige Uladh'' ; sco, label= Ulster Scots, Ulstèr or ''Ulster'') is one of the four traditional Irish provinces. It is made up of nine counties: six of these constitute Northern Ireland (a part of the United King ...

contracted players could legally challenge that determination, particularly if Ireland failed to qualify.

Tournament history

World Games

Summer Olympic Games

A silver medal for Great Britain in the 2016 Olympics is a considerable achievement for a team that was only formed ten weeks prior the tournament. Where other teams on the sevens circuit had been preparing two years or longer, Team Great Britain coach Amor only got his players together for the first time on May 30. England, Wales and Scotland all compete as separate nations in the

World Sevens Series The World Rugby Men's Sevens Series is an annual series of international rugby sevens tournaments run by World Rugby featuring national sevens teams. Organised for the first time in the 1999–2000 season as the IRB World Sevens Series, the com ...

Squads

Olympic Squads

* 2016 Squad * 2020 Squad

References

{{National rugby union teams (sevens) National rugby sevens teams Great Britain at the Summer Olympics R