Player of the year’s eyes fixed on 2020

AWARD-WINNING England 7s star Richard de Carpentier has set his heart on the 2020 Tokyo Olympics after missing out on medal glory in Rio.

De Carpentier, below, was overlooked by Team GB boss Simon Amor for last summer’s Brazilian jamboree – a decision he concedes was hard to take – but has bounced back brilliantly for England this season to be voted England 7s player-of-the-year.

Former Worcester flanker de Carpentier, 27, told The Rugby Paper: “It was tough missing out on Rio. You understand not everyone can go but I was happy in myself that I’d done everything I could in the lead-up tournaments.

“Unfortunately it wasn’t to be but that’s just driven me harder and there’s every opportunity in future for me now with the Commonwealth Games and World Cup coming up and another big one to aim for at Tokyo 2020.

“I’ve no issues with Simon, you can’t hold grudges over these things. All I hope now is that my body holds up through another Olympics cycle.”

De Carpentier’s immediate priority is to help England secure second place in this year’s 7s World Series ahead of world champions Fiji.

He said: “We’re just behind Fiji so overtaking them is the big goal because South Africa are probably too far ahead in first place now.

“The boys came back from the Olympics with a lot of confidence and morale has been building throughout the year, so London is a huge target for us now and we want to make amends for our performance last year.

“We set ourselves up to do well but then lost badly to Scotland in the quarterfinal so we feel we owe our supporters.”

De Carpentier admits he was stunned to capture the players’ award, adding: “With Dan Norton getting the all-time tryscoring record I didn’t think I was in with a sniff, so to be voted for by the boys made it extra special and it’s something I’ll cherish.”