At long last we know the make-up of the second version of a GB Sevens squad
We can only imagine the extreme emotions the announcement made on the wider squad. Scott Forrest has been hampered again and again in coming to his final decision. Then he had to break the good and the bad news.
For the players it’s much worse. They have been subjected to sacrifice, delay and disappointment for the best part of two years.
The Choices
Forrest has relied largely on the English element:
Holly Aitchison
Abbie Brown (co-captain)
Abi Burton
Deborah Fleming
Natasha Hunt
Megan Jones (co-captain)
Jasmine Joyce
Alex Matthews
Celia Quansah
Helena Rowland
Hannah Smith
Emma Uren
Reserve: Lisa Thomson
It means that only two Celtic players are retained, Joyce (Wales) and Smith (Scotland) – huge congratulation to them. This doubles their representation from the Rio squad, where only Joyce was included. Thomson, also of Scotland, is left in the invidious position of reserve. Last time there were two who travelled.
The players who deserve commiseration are: Heather Fisher, Megan Gaffney, Hannah Jones, Rhona Lloyd, Chloe Rollie, Emily Scott and Lydia Thompson.
Forrest has opted for two captains: Meg Jones is brought in alongside Abbie Brown who has captained England for several years. Jones has a rugby brain that merits this promotion.
Whether the squad has any chance of success in Tokyo is quite another matter. Forget the undoubted individual quality shown here, their lack of competition over the past year and more is a severe handicap.
Even their imminent trip to the Quest for Gold tournament in California (June 25-26) offers only one team (USA) to offer strong competition. The others are Japan and Kenya.
