GREAT Britain will play in the men's and women's Olympic Sevens in Tokyo next summer after England won both qualifying tournaments.
England were nominated as the chosen home nation to represent Britain in last Sunday's qualifying events and two final wins over each host nation guaranteed Team GB would be competing for the medals in 2020.
The men's side beat hosts France 31-7 in the final in Colomiers, while the women saw off Russia 19-0 in Kazan. Head of England Sevens Simon Amor said: “I'm just so incredibly proud of everyone involved in the programme – both the men and the women.
“For both teams to qualify GB for the Olympics after the year they've had with huge challenges, huge growth and huge learning is incredible.
“For both teams to beat the hosts in their respective finals as well – it just says so much about the people involved in the programme.
“I'm proud of the players, the young guys in particular. Jamie Barden, Ben Harris – they were only at school last year. To step up and play under that pressure was fantastic.”
Having sailed through day one the men's team beat Italy 35-0 in the last eight after tries from Harry Glover, Tom Mitchell, Will Muir, Ben Harris and Will Edwards.
Dan Norton, Mike Ellery and Muir put England 17-0 ahead at the break in the semi-final against Portugal before Charlton Kerr and Ben Harris also went over in a 29-12 win.
England led France 21-7 at half-time in the final after Norton scored a hattrick before the break. Ollie Lindsay-Hague's interception led to a fourth try. Having finished second in the Pool, England Women's head coach James Bailey was proud of the turnaround.
“I'm absolutely over the moon and so proud of everyone's effort,” he said.
“The girls have just put in performance after performance. The quarter-final against Ireland, the semifinal against France and the final against Russia were all built on effort and desire. They are a special group and it's been an incredible journey.
“We've had to dig in deep many a time but they've got their reward this weekend.
They are still a really young group and it's so exciting to think what the future holds for them.” Having finished second in their group, the women's team overcame Ireland 17-7 in the quarter-finals In that match, England trailed but Holly Aitchison replied on the stroke of half-time as they went into the break 7-5 down. Deborah Fleming went over in the corner to put them ahead, before Alex Matthews sealed victory.
In the tense semi-final against France, Matthews crossed to give England an early lead. France levelled but Ellie Kildunne restored England's lead after the break and two conversions from Aitchison took them through 14-12.
In the final, Heather Fisher squeezed through for the opening try to set England on their way with Emma Uren and Alex Matthews also scoring.
Team GB women finished fourth at Rio 2016, losing 33-10 in the bronze final to Canada; the men won silver after a 43-7 defeat by Fiji in the final.
