Pools announced for Rugby Sevens at Tokyo Olympics

Australia’s men’s and women’s Rugby Sevens sides have learned their opponents for the group stage at the upcoming Tokyo Olympics.

World Rugby and Tokyo 2020 have confirmed the pools for the women’s and men’s Rugby Sevens events at the upcoming Olympics.

The Tokyo games will be the second Summer Olympics to feature seven-a-side rugby.

In their bid to win back-to-back gold medals, Australia’s women’s team will compete in Pool C, alongside China, Japan and the United States, none of whom won medals in Rio.

The United States, however, has placed in the top six at all four of the World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series since the Rio games and looks set to throw plenty of questions at the Aussies in their pursuit of consecutive gold medals.

China will make its debut in the event at this year’s games.

“We had many battles with the USA in the last few legs of the World Series, and we’re looking forward to that continuing come Games time,” said Australian women’s Sevens head coach John Manenti.

“There is no doubt Japan will have a stadium of 10,000 people behind them, and we can’t underestimate the strength that it will provide the side, while China is a bit of an unknown, having only recently joined the series.

“As a team, we’ll be looking to start our campaign strong and use that momentum to carry us beyond the pool stages and into the finals.”

Fiji won its first ever Olympic medal by winning gold in the men’s event at Rio. Pics Adam Head

Meanwhile, the men’s team will jostle with Argentina, the Republic of Korea (South Korea) and current world champions New Zealand with the hopes of improving on its quarter-final finish at the Rio games.

Argentina and New Zealand also bowed out in the quarter finals in 2016, while the Republic of Korea will be making its sevens debut in Tokyo.

“Every pool is highly competitive, and we’ll need to be on form every game to secure a quarter final spot,” said Australian men’s Sevens head coach Tim Walsh.

“New Zealand are currently World Champions while Argentina has won their last three tournaments against the likes of medal contenders USA and GB. There’s no skirting around the challenge we face.

“It will come down to how we prepare as a team, every individual has a role to play, and as a coach, I want them to walk off the field with no regrets that they’ve played their part.”

The Rugby Sevens fixture will be announced on July 7.

Men’s Pools

Pool A: New Zealand, Australia, Argentina, Republic of Korea

Pool B: Fiji, Great Britain, Canada, Japan

Pool C: South Africa, United States of America, Kenya, Ireland

Women’s Pools

Pool A: New Zealand, Russia, Great Britain, Kenya

Pool B: Canada, France, Fiji, Brazil

Pool C: Australia, United States of America, China, Japan