- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
The 2016 Olympic Games will feature rugby sevens for the first time, and I’ve already put together a wishlist of the the seven players I would like to see in Rio de Janeiro.
Sonny Bill Williams
Height, speed, power, skill, the best off-loader of the ball in both league and union – the things that Sonny Bill Williams could do playing sevens are scary.
Greg Inglis
Greg Inglis’s CV in rugby league is stellar – 177 NRL games for 112 tries, 21 State of Origin games for a record 15 tries, 28 Tests for Australia with 22 tries. Inglis stands 195cm and 106kg and has covered fullback, centre, wing and five-eighth.
Imagine his speed, size and skill in sevens rugby. The most impressive feature of Inglis’s game is his nimble hands – is there a bigger man with a more deft touch than Inglis in either code?
Ardie Savea
Ardie Savea has already played sevens for New Zealand and impressed, but the brother of All Blacks winger Julian Savea is only going to get better once he gets regular Super Rugby game time – something that will happen.
Ardie has great speed, is superb over the ball, can win lineout possession and has the all-round skills to play in the forwards or the backs.
Bryan Habana
The most complete winger in the game has won a World Cup, a Lions series, a Tri-Nations championship, three Super Rugby titles and scored a South African record 53 tries in 95 Tests.
Surely a crack at a sevens gold medal must be tempting for Habana? Habana has lost no pace and his combination of vision, intelligence, power and speed is a threat for any opposition.
On another note, imagine how many tries Habana would have scored if he was an All Black.
Since Habana made his debut for the Springboks in 2004 the All Blacks have scored 488 Test tries. The All Blacks have been served on the left wing by the likes of Julian Savea (19 tries), Sitiveni Sivivatu (29), Joe Rockoko (47), Richard Kahu (10) and Hose Gear (six).
Habana is a better winger than all of them.
Israel Folau
The most balanced runner in rugby just keeps on improving. He can step off both feet, has tremendous power and a growing intelligence for the game.
Yannick Nyanga Kabasele
The French back-row forward has played 37 Tests since 2004, but has only really hit his stride in recent seasons.
Dynamic with the ball in hand, Nyanga is the best-off-loading forward in the Six Nations and would be an ideal forward in the sevens game.
Courtney Laws
The English lock would be an ideal forward in sevens. At two metres tall he would win a lot of lineout and kick-off ball for a start, an increasingly important part of the game.
More importantly, he is abrasive in contact and explosive with the ball in hand. His speed for a big man is impressive and he can offload with both hands.
Who would you like to see playing sevens in the Rio Games? I’ll be updating this list intermittently as 2016 approaches.
Join The Roar rugby editor Christy Doran, former Wallaby Matt Toomua and a cast of regular and special guests as they look at the biggest issues in the game on The Roar Rugby Podcast. If you’re looking for great odds on the next game check out Aussie bookmaker PlayUp. Chances are you’re about to lose. Set a deposit limit.