One of Scotland’s star players, Thom Evans, this week spoke of the huge asset rugby sevens would be to the Olympic Games as he and the Scotland 7s squad continue preparations ahead of the penultimate leg of the IRB Sevens World Series – the Emirates Airline London Sevens.

“Sevens at the Olympics is something a lot of people would like to see and I for one wish it can get there because it would be such a great thing for the Games,” he said.

“To play on the greatest sporting stage for any player would be amazing.”

Evans has joined the likes of Bryan Habana, Augustin Pichot and Lawrence Dallaglio in supporting the International Rugby Board’s campaign as their presentation to the International Olympic Committee approaches on Monday 15 June. He feels that the fast-paced nature of the game will excite Olympic crowds all over the globe as it already does on the IRB Sevens World Series.

“It would be a great thing if it were to be part of the Olympics. It’s one of the most exciting games you can watch and is a great family day out.”
 
“You have to be fast and very fit, some of the fittest players in the world play sevens. Sevens makes great players and if you look at some of the best players in the world, many have originated from sevens.

“It’s just so exciting because of the space you get and the amount of tries scored. It’s something you never take your eyes off when you’re watching and it’s something which I think would make a massive contribution to the Olympic Games.”

Evans also believes that it would be the ultimate accolade to win an Olympic medal playing for your country at the abbreviated version of the game.

“It would just be unbelievable. Because sevens is a only a seven-man game you need to have that extra bit of trust in that man inside and outside of you. There would be no greater sense of achievement to win an Olympic medal at, like I said, the greatest sporting event in the world.”

Evans is currently in London with the Scotland 7s squad ahead of the Emirates Airline London Sevens this weekend before returning to Edinburgh for the final leg of the IRB Sevens World Series at Murrayfield on 30 and 31 May.

Commenting on this weekend’s Pool opponents (Kenya, Fiji and USA) and the added strength in Scotland’s squad, Evans added: “They’re all really good teams. I’ve been working on my fitness this weekend because obviously sevens is slightly different to fifteens.

“We’ve done a lot of analysis on the way they play. They’re obviously very big, strong and fast and we’ve come up with a few solutions so hopefully we can put them into practice this weekend.

“I’m very fortunate to join a squad that’ll probably be the best squad we’ve had so far, even Stevie will vouch for that. Over the last three years this is definitely the strongest squad we’ve had in terms of depth and it’s something I’m really looking forward to this weekend to see, with the bunch of players we’ve got, how far we can get in these two tournaments.”