Great Britain Rugby Sevens have announced the head coaches for the men’s and women’s programmes ahead of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games.
Head of England Sevens Simon Amor will take the position of head coach for the men’s programme while Scotland Women’s Sevens head coach Scott Forrest will lead the women’s set-up.
Amor, who has overseen England’s men’s and women’s programmes for the last two seasons, led Great Britain Men’s Sevens to a silver medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games.
This summer, England secured qualification as the nominated nation on behalf of Team GB at their Olympic qualifying events. Amor was at the helm as the men were victorious in Colomiers while the women, then coached by James Bailey, secured a win in Kazan.
Forrest, meanwhile, has 11 years of playing and coaching experience at international sevens level and is currently Scottish Rugby’s High Performance Manager for Women and Girls.
His Scotland women’s sevens group secured third place finishes at the 2018 Rugby Europe Sevens as well as this year’s World Series qualifier in Hong Kong and World Series in Biarritz.
Both coaches are in the process of finalising their respective coaching teams and will be able to select players from England, Wales and Scotland.
Amor said: “It’s an honour to lead the men’s team again.
“The experience in Rio was undoubtedly the best coaching experience of my life.
“Working with a special group of people and being part of Team GB and everything that it stands for, as well as being able to contribute to the incredible record medal haul was brilliant.
“The opportunity to go again with our aim of going one step better and becoming Olympic champions is a huge privilege.”
Forrest said: “I am incredibly honoured and privileged to be appointed as head coach of the GB Women’s Sevens team. Everyone’s ambition as a sports person is to be involved in an Olympic Games and I’m excited about the challenge that lies ahead.
“Having been involved coaching Scotland Women’s Sevens since 2012, and having the experience of coaching the Men’s Sevens on last season’s World Series, I am looking forward to developing my coaching practice further over the next year. I am looking forward to working with players and staff from across the three unions to get the team ready to be successful in Tokyo next year.”
Team GB Chef de Mission Mark England commented: “We are delighted to see Simon Amor at the helm of the men’s GB Rugby Sevens programme for Tokyo. Simon did a great job with the men’s team for Rio 2016, which resulted in the team’s silver medal.
“It is also fantastic to have Scott leading the women’s team. Scott has experience as an athlete of competing at a multi-sport Games having represented Scotland at the Delhi Commonwealth Games and has also been part of the Scottish women’s programme for seven years.
“We are looking forward to working with them both to support and fine tune preparations for Tokyo 2020.”
Training camps will take place throughout the season with the GB Sevens programme starting at the climax of the World Series in June 2020.
Courtesy of the RFU
