Honey Badger to return for Aussie Sevens

Nick Cummins will restart his quest for an Olympic berth for Australia at the World Rugby Sevens’ leg in Paris next weekend.

Just a day after fellow Wallaby convert Quade Cooper was told his Olympic dream was over, Cummins has been selected to return from an ankle injury for the penultimate round of the series.

Cummins, who is now playing in Japan, returned to the modified game for the first time in six years in Hong Kong last month, but struggled through the weekend after injuring his ankle early on in the event.

He then missed the subsequent leg in Singapore.

It leaves the 28-year-old “Honey Badger” just two weekends of rugby, in Paris and then one week later in Japan, to convince Australian coach Andy Friend that he deserves a ticket to Rio.

Returning rugby league player Jesse Parahi has also been named in the 12-man squad for the Paris leg, completing his return to Sevens after a short stint with NRL club the Wests Tigers.

Parahi helped the Thunderbolts qualify for the Olympics last year before chancing his hand hand in the 13-man game, however he failed to earn a first grade debut.

Captain Ed Jenkins and centre Cameron Clark also return after being rested for the Singapore event, where Australia achieved their lowest finish of the year in fourth.

The Australians also sit fourth in the overall standings, now 32 points behind Fiji, and will therefore likely treat the final two events of the season as warm-ups for Rio.

Lewis Holland (foot), Tom Cusack (wrist), Greg Jeloudev (foot) and Henry Speight (cheekbone) will all miss the final two rounds through injury.

Australian 12-man squad: Henry Hutchison, Tom Kingston, Sam Myers, Josh Holmes, Con Foley, Cameron Clark, Jesse Parahi, Ed Jenkins, Allan Fa’alava’au, Nick Cummins, Pat McCutcheon.