WHAT with Covid doing its worst for the last 15 months or so, Sevens has rather disappeared off the radar with the World Series decimated, few tournaments surviving and some Unions cutting back their programmes.
That will change in Monaco next weekend when the Olympic repechage tournaments for Men and Women get underway exactly a year after they were due to be held. The Olympic tournament proper starts at the Tokyo Stadium on July 26 which suddenly seems almost upon us.
Everybody is up for the fight, there will be a limited crowd, spectators will be necking beers in the sunshine and it will be on TV. Monaco will represent something of a return to Sevens normality and of course a place at the Olympic finals beckons.
And more than a little extra stardust has been scattered on the tournament by the news that Wasps' former All Blacks centre Malakai Fekitoa is among former T1 players set to play for Tonga as part of the repatriation process of qualifying anew for his home nation in the hope of representing them at RWC2023 in France.
Fekitoa is, of course, a born and bred Tongan and first represented the national Sevens at the age of 17 but thereafter was ‘acquired' by the All Blacks for whom he scored eight tries in 24 Tests and was often touted as the long term successor to Ma'a Nonu.
Under the new regulations he can opt back for Tonga if, as a Tongan passport holder, he opts out of Test rugby for three years and then represents them in the Olympic Sevens or an Olympic qualifying tournament. As a further little caveat he and others like him must participate in at least 50 per cent of Tonga's games in said Sevens competition, ie those making the switch can't just be named in a squad. They have to play!
MEN
Pool A: Samoa, Ireland, Tonga, Zimbabwe and Mexico.
Pool B: France, Hong Kong, Chile, Uganda Jamaica
WOMEN
Pool A: Russia, Argentina, Mexico, Samoa.
Pool B: Papua New Guinea, Kazakhstan, Jamaica, Tunisia.
Pool C: France, Hong Kong, Colombia, Madagascar.
Tonga have also been busy recruiting from Europeanbased pros with former Aussie Sevens centre Afusipa Taumoepeau, who has been starring for ProD2 champions Perpignan, intending to make the switch via the Sevens route.
He has been named in the squad for Monaco along with former Wallabies back five forward Lopeti Timani who has been doing sterling work for La Rochelle in recent seasons. Meanwhile the Tongans have produced a fourth rabbit from the hat in their squad with recent New Zealand U20 and Sevens representative Tima Fainga'anuku, a powerful speedy wing who had been playing with Tasman.
As you can imagine the repechage organisers have had to bend with the wind a little. For Rio the Men's tournament comprised 16 teams but that was originally reduced to 12 this year – the second and third placed sides in the six area qualifying tournament – but that has been further trimmed to ten with the withdrawal of the Brazilian and Chinese sides.
There will be some decent sides on view. Given the unpredictable nature of Sevens it's not inconceivable the two teams emerging from Monaco could seriously challenge for a medal in Tokyo. And they will also have a hardfought six-match tournament under their belts which is more than the pre-qualified teams can boast. These things are not unimportant.
Take the Men's tournament. The last world rankings, based on the half completed 2019- 2020 World Series (WS), has France in sixth place, Ireland tenth and Samoa in 13th and you would make that trio the favourites next weekend.
Given their recent recruits you also have to throw Tonga into the mix.
France were losing finalists in the Hamilton leg and semifinalists in Cape Town during the last, interrupted, WS campaign, Ireland have become very dangerous floaters with try machines Jordan Conroy and Terry Kennedy always posing a threat and Samoa can cause some damage when they put their mind to it, as was the case in Dubai when they reached the semi-finals.
For the men the competing sides have been grouped in two five-team pools, above, with the top two teams in each progressing to the semi-finals.
The Jamaicans always have at least one big game in them while Uganda feel they should be on a par with East African neighbours Kenya and, after appearing at the Commonwealth Games and World Cup Sevens, are keen to land an Olympic spot. With a 9pm curfew in the country to help counter Covid, training has not been easy for an amateur side with real jobs so dawn training before work has become the norm.
The Women will contest three pools of four teams with the three winners and bestplaced runners-up progressing to the semi-finals.
France, 4th in the world and Russia (6th) will be the clear favourites to reach Sunday's final. You would possibly tip the classy French but Russia narrowly missed out at this stage to Spain ahead of Rio 2016 and arrived this week off the back of the REC Sevens tournament win in Lisbon, beating Spain in the final.
The true Olympic spirit – the David v Goliath tussles in the Pools – would appear to be alive and well and we wait with interest to see what Madagascar, Papua New Guinea and Tunisia – three of the rank outsiders – can produce.
