Double delight for Team GB in Exeter

By Steve Grace
11/7/2016

Team GB rugby sevens head coach Simon Amor acknowledged this weekend’s Exeter 7s has left him with big selection headaches ahead of the Rio 2016 Olympic Games after both of his sides picked up silverware.

The GB rugby team has been split into two different sides in the build-up to selection for this summer’s Olympic Games and the Exeter 7s was the second of three rounds in the Rugby Europe Grand Prix Sevens Series.

GB Royals won the Exeter 7s Cup at Sandy Park on Sunday after coming from 12-0 down to beat reigning champions France 33-17 in the final, while GB Lions exited the main competition after they lost 7-5 to Russia in the quarter-finals, but they did go on to claim the Plate courtesy of a 31-19 win over Germany.

Amor said: “This is a group of guys that pretty much met six weeks ago and they have been absolutely outstanding. They have fought and fought and fought. I am proud of them and I am proud of the staff that have come together very quickly. “To win a trophy here is a credit to everyone that has been involved in the GB programme, I am really chuffed.

“We have some absolutely unbelievable players, there is so much talent to pick from and now we have to work out which one goes well with the other. They have given us some massive selection headaches and that is exactly the place we wanted to be in, so it is going to be a tough night with myself and Gareth Williams talking this through.

“The support here has been amazing, thank you so much – hearing the GB chant in the crowd was brilliant.”

The Royals had already beaten France this weekend after defeating the 2015 champions 17-10 in Pool B on Saturday – when there was also 31-0 and 43-0 victories over Portugal and Poland respectively. That was followed by a 24-7 win over Georgia and 12-10 victory against Russia to set up the final.

France had led 12-0 in the first half before tries from Ollie Lindsay-Hague and Alex Davis meant GB Royals only trailed 17-14 at the break. But they scored 19 unanswered points in the second thanks to tries by James Rodwell, Ruaridh McConnochie and Lindsay-Hague.

As for GB Lions, they won their group on Saturday courtesy of a 31-5 victory over Belgium and 31-0 and 41-0 wins against Italy and Germany. And after losing 7-5 to Russia in the quarters, went on to beat Georgia 22-7 in the Plate semi-final.