Ciaran Beattie has announced his squad for the Olympics.
It is: Amy Wilson Hardy, Ellie Boatman, Ellie Kildunne, Emma Uren, Grace Crompton, Heather Cowell, Isla Norman-Bell, Jade Shekells, Jasmine Joyce, Lauren Torley, Lisa Thomson, Megan Jones.
The two reserves are Abi Burton and Kayleigh Powell.
There are very few surprises. One big disappointment is the absence through ongoing injury to Abbie Brown, the long-term captain. It makes Jasmine Joyce the only team-member to take part in her third Olympics in succession.
Congratulations too to Meg Jones and Emma Uren on appearing at their second Olympics.
The senior player is Amy Wilson Hardy, who made her debut in 2013. She has been a wonderful servant to England and GB Sevens, but when we compare her try-scoring record with her leading southern hemisphere rivals’, we can see the distance the team has to travel to achieve success.
GB’s history in this peak event is frustrating in the extreme: two fourth places. They failed to win the bronze medal play-off in Rio and Tokyo. That may not make much psychological difference to their performances in Paris, but a repeated failure to finish better than sixth in the world order reflects their position more clearly.
We have yet to see how big a difference Jones and Ellie Kildunne will bring, fresh from another Six Nations triumph. Kildunne could make a devastating statement.
As I see it, the squad consists of highly talented rugby players, who have consistently failed to meet their own expectations in round after round of the HSBC series.
A Rickety Structure
One underlying weakness is the status of the GB Sevens set-up. Building a squad from three disparate unions is hard.
The inbuilt imbalance between England and the two Celtic nations is revealed in this final selection: of the fourteen players two are Welsh and one Scottish.
This team-building becomes even harder when the coaching staff alters so often. Some head coaches of their leading rivals, like David Courteix (France, since 2010) and Cory Sweeney and Allan Bunting (New Zealand, 2016 to present in various capacities) and Tim Walsh (Wallaroos since 2021), show the value of consistency.
Then the SRU and WRU have different programmes in place from the RFU. For example, a player could be called away to take part in a 15s tour. Through the latest HSBC season Beattie has rarely been able to post the same squad twice running.
The fact that he is designated “Great Britain Sevens Head of Rugby & Women’s Head Coach” strikes me as odd. Why the double brief? Where does his responsibility for the men’s squad end and the women’s begin? You would expect him to have total charge of the women’s squad, and leave the men to their own devices.
Recent History
GB’s advance suffered a huge setback when the RFU decided in its wisdom to withdraw contracts from its 7s players. They were left bereft, though most went on to accept 15s contracts and form part of the all-conquering Red Roses squad.
Jones and Kildunne are the only two to opt to return to the 7s fray, and we can only wish them luck, as we do the entire group.
It all starts on 28 July.
