Fiji Men pooled with hosts France, USA and Uruguay in Olympic 7s

Two-time Men’s 7s Olympic champions, Fiji are in a tough pool in the Paris Olympics as they are pooled with hosts France, USA and debutants Uruguay.

World Rugby says in front of their home supporters, France will aim to replicate their title-winning performance in Madrid where they lifted the inaugural HSBC SVNS Grand Final title earlier this month.

SVNS league winners, Argentina will also face tough competition in Pool B where they will meet Australia, Samoa and Kenya while Pool A sees top seed New Zealand grouped with Ireland, Japan and South Africa who just qualified from the World Rugby Sevens Repechage in Monaco.

In the women’s 7s competition, Olympic champions and SVNS League Winners, New Zealand will be strong contenders and face Fijiana, Canada and freshly qualified China in Pool A.

Pool B will also provide fascinating competition with Rio 2016 Olympic and SVNS 2024 Grand Final champions Australia facing Ireland, Great Britain and debutants South Africa.

Hosts France have been placed in Pool C as one of three top ranked teams and will look to improve on their silver medal at Tokyo 2020 with pool matches against the USA, Japan and Brazil.

World Rugby Chairman, Sir Bill Beaumont says they are thrilled to unveil the rugby sevens Olympic pools for what promises to be an epic, coming-of-age tournament for rugby in the French capital.

He says in one month’s time, rugby will have the honour of kicking-off Paris 2024 in style with an exciting and spectacular brand of rugby that will excite the hundreds of thousands of fans in Stade de France and capture millions more hearts and minds of those watching around the world.

Beaumont says rugby sevens is a fantastic engine to grow the sport and on its third Olympic appearance is already proving to be one of the attractions of the Games with record enthusiasm for tickets, mouthwatering rivalries and two strong French national teams hoping to achieve their Olympic dreams on home soil.

The men’s competition will take place from 25th to 28th July, with the women’s tournament following from 29th to 31st July.

The men’s gold medal match on 28th July will see the first team sport gold medal of the Games awarded.

Paris 2024 Sports Executive Director Aurélie Merle says Rugby Sevens will have the honour of kicking off the Olympic Games in Paris, with the competition beginning two days before the Opening Ceremony.

Merle says France is a country passionate about rugby and they will welcome all teams to a refurbished and packed Stade de France of 69,000 seats, where the atmosphere will be electric.

The official Quantum Match Ball designed by Gilbert that will be used across the two competitions has been unveiled following the World Rugby Sevens Repechage in Monaco.

Developed for the unique style of the sevens game, the Multi Matrix grip offers higher, more defined pimples which increases the ball’s surface area, enhancing the handling and offload skills shown by sevens players.

Inspired by the Paris 2024 brand, the official Gilbert ball design features the Stade de France venue colour system at its core with the famous Olympic Rings, Paris 2024, World Rugby and Gilbert at the centre of each panel.

The rugby sevens Olympic match schedule will be confirmed shortly.