Sevens special
Phil Jones catches up with fit-again Team GB forward James Rodwell
Rugby has had to wait 92 years for its Olympic return so there was no way that James Rodwell was going to let a knee injury stop him from competing with Great Britain in Rio next month.
The England Sevens veteran broke a world record with his 69th consecutive World Rugby Sevens Series appearance earlier this year but arrived in camp with a dislocated knee that he had picked up in breaking that record in Paris in May.
When he missed the first round of the Grand Prix Series – the first event where Great Britain competed as a team – Rodwell’s Olympic hopes were hanging by a thread. But thanks to the efforts of the training staff, the 31-year-old was able to do enough to prove his fitness and take his place in the 12-man squad for Brazil.
He told The Rugby Paper: “It’s a real dream come true, something that I never thought, as a child, I would be involved in. We met up about seven weeks ago but unfortunately I came into the process with a knee injury which I sustained during the World Series about 12 weeks ago.
“I was really pushing it to get back fit, to give myself a chance of getting selected. And as I missed the first tournament together I knew that I was fighting against guys that have been involved the whole time.
“But it helps that it is a pretty good goal to aim for and I am really lucky and thankful to all the medical staff that got me back fit in time – it’s all gone to plan. I was fortunate enough to go to two Commonwealth Games but, from speaking to people at those, the Olympics are a completely different level.
“There are double the number of athletes and a global audience, so it is going to be special.
“And there are 12 teams involved which are all world class – this year on the World Sevens Series there were six different winners out of ten different tournaments. That just shows the depth of talent in the world.” Great Britain have been playing catch-up with the rest of the world after coming together as a team only in 2016, and it’s little surprise the squad is dominated by Sevens specialists. While Mark Bennett is the exception to the rule, it will be England captain Tom Mitchell who leads the team and Rodwell is confident the squad has been able to gel in time. He explained: “There is so much to occupy us on a daily basis, our schedule has been full with training and really pulling this GB squad together and generating this tight squad spirit. Our focus has been on day to day and I think that has been a useful thing for us.You focus on doing as much as you can every day.” GB find themselves in a pool with Kenya, Japan and New Zealand, and another tourist, Dan Bibby, below, is itching to take on Sonny Bill Williams and co in the final pool game. “Sonny Bill was a bit of an idol when we were growing up, so to actually play against him is going to be pretty awesome,” he added. “But again, they are just another team, just more players.We have got 12 amazing players and we have got the best 12 from Great Britain going.”