Emirates Dubai Sevens: Team GB cautiously optimistic after reaching last eight

Tony Roques, the Great Britain coach, acknowledged his side are still trying to understand their own identity, after a promising opening day at the Emirates Dubai Sevens.

Britain finished last in their group at the corresponding stage 12 months ago, after being thumped by United States and France. It was the start of an ill-fated season which ended with them missing out on qualification for the Paris Olympics.

Judged by the admittedly tiny sample size of just one day of the new series, things are looking up. They opened their 2024 Dubai campaign with a thrilling 22-17 win over Ireland in stoppage time in extra time.

The fact that represents a substantial shock shows just how much the sevens circuit has changed. When England used to be regular contenders for titles in tournaments that also involved Wales and Scotland, Ireland were not even always regular participants.

Last season, though, they were runners up in the series behind Argentina. By contrast, the three British sides – each of whom had massive followings in Dubai – have ceased to exist, and have merged into one Great Britain side. Even Roques acknowledges it has been an awkward marriage so far.

“Finding Great Britain is a strange thing,” said Roques, who had a distinguished sevens career with England before moving into coaching.

“There are lads who wouldn’t call themselves British, they would call themselves Welsh, Scottish, or English.

“That is a challenge. Great Britain as a rugby identity, no one really knows what it is, and we are learning as a group to celebrate who we are. It is not an easy process, but I think the more years we do it, it will become normal that we are Britain, and England, Scotland and Wales in the sevens environment doesn’t exist.”

There is no exact template for a GB side in rugby. When the sevens players first played together as Team GB at the Rio Olympics in 2016, they were selected from their respective nations, then returned to them for the ensuing world series season.

That is similar to how the British & Irish Lions works in XVs rugby – albeit with Ireland absent from the abridged set up. Now, they play together as a collective entity permanently.

“It is a challenge, let’s not hide that,” Roques said. “No one understands British rugby. For the Lions, you get together, but this is it. It has been mandated by World Rugby, and we are getting used to it.

“We are celebrating who we are and where we come from. We are building our culture, without forgetting we are Scottish, English and Welsh.

“The tough thing is people often think Britain is just England, and we get called English a lot. We are definitely not that. We are three nations as one, but there is a bit of work to find our identity.”

Britain went through to the quarter-finals as runners up in Group A, behind the defending world series champions Argentina.

“We are really chuffed,” Roques said. “We had a much better preparation than we did last year. We are a camp-based programme, and were able to have a lot more camps.

“We have had a big turnover of players, lost a lot of experienced players, and we are trying to embed those new boys. It is difficult learning out there on the world series, and we learnt a lot in that Ireland game, we got taught a lesson by Argentina [in a 22-5 loss], and Uruguay are a really difficult side.

“If you give them enough ball, they can really hurt you. I thought in patches we played really well [in a 31-10 win] and we are just building into the tournament. We are looking forward to the quarter-final tomorrow and we will give it a rip.”

Britain will face Spain in the first quarter-final on Sunday, starting at 10.48am on Pitch 1.

South Africa remain on track for a sixth Dubai title in a row, and finished the day in thrilling fashion with an overtime winning score against France in the last match on Saturday.

France will face New Zealand in the second quarter-final, followed by Fiji against South Africa and then Argentina against Australia.

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