GB sevens hard to beat in Moscow

GREAT Britain enjoyed a productive first day in Moscow as their preparations for rugby sevens’ Olympics debut in Rio continued.

Team GB, competing as one union for the first time in the sport, fielded two sides to give head coach Simon Amor a chance to view as many players as possible before he whittles his squad down to the 12 who will travel to Brazil.

Both sides won their pool at the Rugby Europe Sevens Grand Prix event, with Great Britain 1 beating Georgia, Lithuania and Russia to set up a quarter-final against defending champions France on Sunday.

GB 2 overcame Portugal, defending champions France and Poland, and will now face Georgia in the last eight.

Captain Tom Mitchell starred for GB 2 with three tries and three conversions, making him the leading tournament point-scorer on day one, while former Bristol winger Dan Norton scored a spectacular length-of-the-field effort in a 36-7 win over France.

Harlequins back Oliver LindsayHague scored a hat-trick of tries for GB 1 in a 42-0 rout of Lithuania, although they had to work hard to overcome Russia and Georgia in two closely-fought contests.

There were five Welshmen involved with Luke Treharne chosen to captain the GB Royals alongside fellow countrymen Cory Allen and Luke Morgan in his 12-man squad and James Davies and Sam Cross feature in the GB Lions party.