ANY diehard Leaguers feeling sore about the global exposure the Unionistas got via the Olympic 7s last week can take a small measure of comfort from the fact that Team GB only won silver by cheating.
Well, I say cheating. Rules are rules I suppose and allowing GB to cherry-pick the best from Scotland and Wales to augment the England team falls within that definition.
Winners Fiji would have used Jarryd Hayne if he’d been good enough, the Aussies went the same way with Quade Cooper and New Zealand with Sonny Bill Williams.
All’s fair in love and sport, I suppose.
It had to make a difference to team GB’s prospects however – in the global IRB 7s league. England only finished eighth this year behind Kenya and the USA while Scotland were 10th and Wales 12th.
Social media was littered with the predictable moaning about “why them and not us”, to which there is a very simple answer: we don’t play 7s and make only a token gesture at 9s.
No establishment conspiracy involved – or at least if there is, it’s nothing to do with 7s and the Olympics.
