The 2024 Paris Olympic Games gets started this week, with Rugby Sevens amongst the first competitions to get underway throughout the celebration of sport. For Team GB, they have qualified for the Games in the women’s rugby sevens tournament, but the men’s squad were unable to make it into the final 12 teams following the repechage in Monaco.
Great Britain’s quest for gold gets started this Sunday, as the women’s competition kicks off a few days later than the men’s, who have their first pool stage matches from Wednesday. Team GB have been drawn into Pool B for the tournament, and will be taking Ireland, Australia (both Sunday 28th) and South Africa (Monday 29th) in the group stage rounds.
Team GB head coach Ciaran Beattie confirmed his squad on June 19th, with the former Scotland Sevens and Loughborough University coach pencilling in 10 Olympic debutants within the touring squad of 14 players. Here is a look at five players to watch from the Great Britain women’s rugby sevens squad, as they commence their mission for Olympic gold this Sunday.
1. Jasmine Joyce
Kicking off our short-list of five players to watch, is the only member of the Team GB squad for the 2024 Paris Olympics, that was selected for both the 2016 Rio and 2021 Tokyo Games. Wales international Jasmine Joyce has experienced the bright lights of the Olympic stage twice before, yet was a fingertip away from taking home a medal at both previous tournaments.
Great Britain lost the Bronze Finals in both 2016 and 2021, with the third-placed victors being Canada and Fiji. Two fourth-placed finishes has only spurred Joyce on further to bring home a medal from Paris, as she caps of the accomplishment of becoming the first British rugby player to play at a trio of Olympic Games.
Prior to the selection, Joyce said of a potential third bid for an Olympic medal: “It’s so exciting to join up with the talented GB Sevens squad ahead of this summer’s Olympic Games. This side has a genuine shot of becoming the first female Great Britain rugby Sevens team to win an Olympic medal and I would love to be part of that.”
2. Meg Jones
The first of two current Red Roses that have joined up with Team GB for the Olympics, Meg Jones is a well known name amongst both the Great Britain Sevens and England Rugby set-ups. Also representing her PWR club Leicester Tigers, the Welsh-born dynamo optimises what it takes to become a household name in both rugby union and rugby sevens, as Jones has had a stellar career for both Team GB and England.
Despite being born and raised in the Welsh capital of Cardiff, Jones began her Test match career with England against New Zealand back in 2015. The centre has expressed in the past how her Welsh family have conflicted interests in watching the Red Roses take on Wales, yet the Jones household will now firmly be behind Team GB, as they follow their Olympic dream in the coming weeks.
With pace to burn and an unpredictable first step, Jones was promptly selected to travel to Rio de Janeiro for the 2016 Olympics, before the midfielder returned to England duties for the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup. Jones was more recently apart of the Team GB squad that won gold medals from the 2023 European Games in Poland, before swapping back to the Red Roses once again, as England claimed the 2023 & 2024 Women’s Six Nations Grand Slams, as well as 2023 WXV1 title in New Zealand.