Same again but men get the honour in Tokyo

DON’T mend what isn’t broken seems to be the message from the IOC and World Rugby after this week announcing the minimum of tinkering to the 2020 Olympic Sevens tournament.

The Sevens at Rio 2016 were hailed as a major success despite their rather modest setting at the 15,000 capacity Deodoro Stadium with the Fijian men providing one of the images of the Games with their celebratory singing circle after their gold medal victory.

This time around Sevens will enjoy a much higher profile at the Tokyo Stadium and the one significant change has been a simple logistical one with the men’s tournament now occupying the first three days, followed by the women’s competition, a reversal of the itinerary at Rio. The Sevens will be held over six days from July 27 to August 1.

Of more immediate concern has been the confirmation of the qualifying process which will be based initially around the HSBC 2018-19 World Series which gets underway for the women in Denver next month, and for the men in Dubai in November.

That has a familiar look with the top four teams in the seasonlong series going straight through to Tokyo so the pressure will again be on England as Great Britain’s nominated team for qualification purposes. Last season they finished fifth, one point behind fourth place USA.

An additional six teams will qualify through the men’s and women’s World Rugby regional association Olympic qualification tournaments. Those tournaments will take place in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, Oceania and South America from JuneDecember 2019 with the winners going straight through.

The second and third placed teams will go into a repechage tournament which will decide the final place available.