Lions wing king

Lions training session at Carton House Golf Club in Ireland ahead of the tour to New Zealand. that other nations around the world are unhappy with the situation which allows the three Home Nations – Ireland do not field a sevens team on the HSBC world series – to nominate a qualifying team for the Olympics while still holding another two slots on the World Series circuit. In the year ahead of Rio it was England, who achieved a top-four automatic qualifying position for GB.

This all opens the door to the kind of hornets’ nest that unfolded in terms of Olympic football, where Scotland have resisted participating in GB teams for fear of jeopardising their independent status within Fifa. In general, rugby is far different from football, with the British nations still holding considerable political weight in union that goes beyond the traditional, precariously protected IFAB status within Fifa. But the introduction of sevens to the Olympics, which has seen nations around the globe invest in 0 Mark Robertson was one of two Scots in the GB squad. programmes, heaps the pressure on non-sovereign nations withoutiocmembershipwho stand in the way of others.

Two years after deciding to stick with an elite sevens programmes despite losing their hosting status of a leg in the circuit, the SRU now faces another test of their faith in the merits of investing in sevens.

With only two professional teams, international sevens is one of the few other outlets to expose young Scottish prospects to top-level rugby and Macrae spoke earlier this week of the vital development work it has provided for promising players.

It seems clear that, in the absence of a third pro team, if Scotland is to pursue a sevens strategy it has to be all in. Having a second-rate programme that competes on the secondtier European grand prix circuit, retaining a token participation in the Commonwealth Games and Sevens World Cup, is barely worth it.

Rio was great but the Olympics boils down to a couple of days of competition within an every-four-years, multi-sport extravaganza. Had GB bombed in the pool stage would anyone remember it?

The sevens programme provides development opportunities, livelihoods and magical moments like Twickenham last weekend.

That kind of gold is worth much more than a couple of silver medals.