Training for and competing in sevens rugby: practical considerations from experience in the International Rugby Board World Series

The International Olympic Committee voted to include 'Rugby Sevens' in the summer Olympics in 2016. USA Rugby was recently accepted as a full Olympic sport member of the US Olympic Committee. Rugby is being taught as an 'Olympic sport' in schools in China, the USA and Russia. Numerous rugby nations are investing heavily in the identification and preparation of players who will become future Olympians in this sport, however rugby sevens is a vastly different game to the traditional 15-a-side version. As a result effective preparation and competition management of players raises many issues for the strength and conditioning coach.