Reigning Rugby World Cup sevens champions Wales have been drawn with the Springboks, Tonga and host nation India in Pool B for the fourth Rugby Sevens event at the Commonwealth Games.
New Zealand have won all three previous gold medals and they have been drawn with Scotland, Canada and the Caribbean champions Guyana in Pool A. They have included flying wing Hosea Gear, who scored a hat-trick of tries in the New Zealand Maori’s win over England recently, and the star of the IRB Junior World Championships, Julian Savea, in their squad for India.
The recently crowned IRB World Series champions Samoa head Pool C, where they will be joined by Kenya, Uganda and Papua New Guinea, while the silver medalists in Melbourne four years ago, England, head Pool D with Australia, Namibia and Sri Lanka.
“The Commonwealth Games is a major international competition and I’m sure everyone will want to play. Those players who helped Wales win the Plate final in Melbourne four years ago all said what a wonderful experience it was to be part of such a massive sporting event,” said John.
Wales hit back in the second half of the Plate final to pip South Africa 29-28 with one of Wales’ 2008 Grand Slam heroes James Hook playing a key role with one of his side’s five tries and two conversions.
“We will be training in August and are hoping to go to the Middlesex Sevens and arrange some practice matches with the Scottish and English squads. We are currently looking to finalise our squad and we have a solid base to build on from last season’s World Series,” added John.
“We scored 10 more points in the series and moved up to ninth place, so we showed some progression with a new squad. The Commonwealth Games tournament will attract massive publicity and it will be a real showcase event for the players.
“The sevens game is getting bigger and bigger on the world stage and in 2016 is set to be included in the Olympic Games for the first time. That has meant countries like Russiahave really taken a new look at the sport and the IRB World Series gets stronger and stronger every season.
“We have been drawn in a tough Pool with the South Africans and Tongans, but it will be a great opportunity for the Welsh players to prove themselves on a major stage.”
Sevens Commonwealth Games Factfile
– Rugby Sevens was introduced to the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur1998
– The Rugby Sevens final at the Commonwealth Games 2006 in Melbournewas a record crowd for the seven-a-side format with 150,000 attending the three competition days.
– 16 teams take part in the Commonwealth Games, including the host nation
– Following Delhi, the next Commonwealth Games will be in Glasgowin 2014
