Team GB Olympic Rugby XV

Obviously 15 a side Rugby is unlikely to be involved in the Olympics in the foreseeable future. However, if the 15 a side game was currently in the Olympics this is what I'd imagine the team would look like. (So pretty much the Lions, excluding players from the Republic of Ireland) I'll try to make my selection as fair as possible nation wise, some tough calls!

15. B.Foden (England)
14. T.Bowe (N.Ireland)
13. J.Davies (Wales/England)
12. M.Tuilagi (England/Samoa)
11. T.Visser (Scotland/Holland)
10. J.Hook (Wales)
09. M.Phillips (Wales)

08. D.Denton (Scotland/Zimbabwe)
07. C.Robshaw (England)
06. S.Ferris (N.Ireland)
05. A.Wyn-Jones (Wales)
04. R.Gray (Scotland)
03. D.Cole (England)
02. R.Best (N.Ireland)
01. G.Jenkins (Wales)

16. R.Ford (Scotland)
17. A.Corbisiero (England/U.S)
18. A.Jones (Wales)
19. I.Evans (Wales/South Africa)
20. S.Warburton (Wales/England)
21. D.Care (England)
22. D.Cipriani (England/Trinidad)
23. G.North (Wales/England)

Other players in the squad - L.Halfpenny (Wales) C.Ashton (England) J.Roberts (Wales) R.Priestland (Wales) M.Blair (Scotland) T.Faletau (Wales/Tonga) G.Parling (England) E.Murray (Scotland) M.Rees (Wales) J.Marler (England)
:
*Couldn't help but include some of the players dual nationalities

Robshaw over Warburton!!! you aiming to get a bronze medal i see

His name is Robshaw4England- think he might be a fan!

Personally I'd pick Rennie at 7

Cole over Adam Jones Also there are better centers in GB tna Tuilagi, there are even better centers in England than Tuilagi, unless we go down the same road as the football and must use mostly U23 players.

Do we need another Lions debate?

and the results are in....

Quarter Finals:
Team GB 6
New Zealand Oly Blacks 49

Robshaw4England - Tommy Bowe is from Monaghan in the Republic of Ireland, not Northern Ireland. There are 3 counties which are part of Ulster but not in Northern Ireland - Monaghan is one of them.

Tommy qualifies through residence. Wasn't he born in Belfast (or was is armagh) ?

Sure that TeamGB bloke that cheated in the cycling was German...

I see this debate going off on a few tangents..... ...

Out of all the Fly halves in the UK you choose Hook?

Sorry to divert away from the 15 aside game, but are any of these players likely to be picked for the sevens in Rio? Have any played sevens before?

Am not sure you can qualify for a country in the Olympics on residency grounds

The very concept of this makes me slightly uncomfortable. It would split Ireland into N.Ireland and the Republic. Sevens is one thing... I fervently hope there is never a fifteen a side 'Britain' team other than the Lions of course which are naturally the British and Irish Lions hence sidestepping the issue entirely.

rodders wrote:Tommy qualifies through residence. Wasn't he born in Belfast (or was is armagh) ?

Sure that TeamGB bloke that cheated in the cycling was German...

I see this debate going off on a few tangents..... ...

daddy was a British soldier in Krefeld, mummy was a local.

mowgli wrote:Robshaw over Warburton!!!

errrrrr.......yes?? Robshaw has been the better 7 lately. But, I agree with Chequered. Rennie would be starting for me- he's eclipsed all other NH opensides.

I'd expect the same rules as the football to be brought in, therefore you'd only have three players over the age of 23 per squad. Which would make selection more interesting. Otherwise it would be the Lions minus Ireland (the IRFU would probably enter all their players in the Irish squad rather than split them).

Notch wrote:The very concept of this makes me slightly uncomfortable. It would split Ireland into N.Ireland and the Republic. Sevens is one thing... I fervently hope there is never a fifteen a side 'Britain' team other than the Lions of course which are naturally the British and Irish Lions hence sidestepping the issue entirely.

No! Why did you have to say it Notch?! ....... .....

rodders wrote:No! Why did you have to say it Notch?! ....... .....

I know, right? Feic it. Might as well get it started early. Not planning to contribute much to the thread from here on in...

You've done it now alright! This one will run for weeks!.... ...

How about this, we enter a British and Irish team into the Olympics and any medals we win we split or we both get credited for...

I think you can discount any Irish rugby player in this team. We compete as Ireland at the Olympics and as the IRFU are an all-island organisation, the players will play for Ireland.

Do you guys divide your olympics medal tally by 3.5 to compare with other countries?

Thomond wrote:I think you can discount any Irish rugby player in this team. We compete as Ireland at the Olympics and as the IRFU are an all-island organisation, the players will play for Ireland.

Where's the brotherly love in that?

I wonder if team GB knock the ball on on purpose, would it be deemed a foul? Or would that be lost in translation too?

Depends on whether they were playing Ukraine I guess..

Oooooooooh....

Duigers, England did it against Ireland.......

Damn right, never cheered knock ons before!

Think there must be a problem with the BBC website. They seem to have left Ireland off the medal table. I mean i got down to number 41, Singapore, but couldn't see them anywhere...

Is that before or after the "wheels" came off?

Ah well, its human nature... or so I am told...

Carpe Diem wrote:Think there must be a problem with the BBC website. They seem to have left Ireland off the medal table. I mean i got down to number 41, Singapore, but couldn't see them anywhere...

Wait till the end of the boxing

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Carpe Diem wrote:Think there must be a problem with the BBC website. They seem to have left Ireland off the medal table. I mean i got down to number 41, Singapore, but couldn't see them anywhere...

Wait till the end of the boxing

Unless some of ours are boxing a British fighter. Apparently Team GB are being allowed to win without throwing punches.. !!!

Carpe Diem wrote:Think there must be a problem with the BBC website. They seem to have left Ireland off the medal table. I mean i got down to number 41, Singapore, but couldn't see them anywhere...

Ireland are currently level with England, Wales, Scotland and Zamunda on the medals front.

Duigers wrote:

Artful_Dodger wrote:

Carpe Diem wrote:Think there must be a problem with the BBC website. They seem to have left Ireland off the medal table. I mean i got down to number 41, Singapore, but couldn't see them anywhere...

Wait till the end of the boxing

Unless some of ours are boxing a British fighter. Apparently Team GB are being allowed to win without throwing punches.. !!!

....either that or the Cubans are punching so fast the judges can't see them....

If we played by the football rules we could have a great backline and save all the over 23 age places for the forwards.

9. Youngs
10. Ford
11. Cuthbert
12. Scott
13. Tuilagi
14. North
15. Hogg

Forwards something like:

1. Corbisiero (23 so is still under the age limit)
2. Ford (over age player)
3. Cole (over age player)
4. Gray
5. Hamilton (over age player)
6. Kvesic
7. Warburton (c)
8. Faletau

Bench: Marler, Hayward, Bevington, Kitchener, Tipuric, Simpson, Farrell, Scott Williams.

You could have Steven Shingler in there as well...

But i think football is the only event that is age restricted as that was the agreement the Olympic Committee had to make with FIFA so that 1. it wouldn't compete with the World Cup if professionals were chosen and 2. it wouldn't be insignificant and a washout if only amateurs were chosen.

I would have thought a similar agreement would have to be reached with the IRB if 15 a side were to be entered SP. The RWC is a closely guarded cash cow, the IRB and the sponsors wouldn't want a shadow competition a mere year later.

A 15 a side competition won't be started up again (last featured in the 1920s if I remember rightly) but it is fun to speculate.

Can we just stick to 7's please.....

It will be good to see that in the Olympics...even though its obviously going to be the usual 7's teams not any of the recognisable 15's players...

EBOP wrote:Sorry to divert away from the 15 aside game, but are any

of these players likely to be picked for the sevens in Rio? Have any played sevens before?

Just glancing at it, Hook has. Other GB players with a sevens background include Warburton, Strettle, Varndell, Halfpenny, Youngs, Tait and Care

GeordieFalcon wrote:Can we just stick to 7's please.....

It will be good to see that in the Olympics...even though its obviously going to be the usual 7's teams not any of the recognisable 15's players...

Would you not put in more talented 15s stars with a 7s pedigree?

Geordie, I imagine there may be one or two big names in there to bring in the fans.

Henson, Cipriani etc...

No because few of them play the game to the level of the guys who do the 7's tournaments relentlessley.....

Dont get me wrong...there are a few...Lomu, Tait, Varndell come to mind...and im sure there are others...

but who would pick for the GB side, over a GB side made from pure 7's players of Eng, Wales, Scot and Ireland.

Why are you including Irish guys in that? They will not play for GB.

Would northern ireland not be part of a GB team?

Yeah, the NI players would surely be part of GB (and Northern Ireland) for Olympic 'events'.

They would be but rugby is an all Ireland sport. There will be murder if some Irish rugby players played for GB. I would say they would probably never wear the shirt again. Also the IRFU have come out with something to that effect.

Thomond wrote:They would be but rugby is an all Ireland sport. There will be murder if some Irish rugby players played for GB. I would say they would probably never wear the shirt again. Also the IRFU have come out with something to that effect.

Why's that, given that they play for the Lions (which is essentially GB and Ireland)? Also, there are plenty of 'Irish' athletes representing GB (and Northern Ireland).

Excuse the ignorance, but why is it a problem with rugby and not athletics or other sports?

Why is the GB team in this olympics not called GB and NI - like it usually is.

Spikes, it's mainly because rugby covers the whole island, our athletics organisation doesn't really. Boxing is the same, guys from the North compete for Ireland as it is Boxing Ireland.


It's different for some sports and I and others have no problem with it (was cheering on Campbell today like) but it is very different in rugby.

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Why is the GB team in this olympics not called GB and NI - like it usually is.

It is called GB and NI on the Beeb medal page. It does get shortened by most people to just Team GB though. A bit like the Irish bit (incorrectly) gets left out of the Lions sometimes.

GeordieFalcon wrote:No because few of them play the game to the level of the guys who do the 7's tournaments relentlessley.....

Dont get me wrong...there are a few...Lomu, Tait, Varndell come to mind...and im sure there are others...

but who would pick for the GB side, over a GB side made from pure 7's players of Eng, Wales, Scot and Ireland.

Ben Youngs? Varndell? Wade?

sugarNspikes wrote:

LeinsterFan4life wrote:Why is the GB team in this olympics not called GB and NI - like it usually is.

It is called GB and NI on the Beeb medal page. It does get shortened by most people to just Team GB though. A bit like the Irish bit (incorrectly) gets left out of the Lions sometimes.

It doesnt say it beside the athletes name either.

sugarNspikes wrote:
Excuse the ignorance, but why is it a problem with rugby and not athletics or other sports?

There isn't a problem. This is all hypothetical and based on speculation.

The IRFU have said no Irish players, within their juristiction, are allowed to play for GB in 7's in 2016. As they fund the provinces and pay for wages, player development etc. I think they are well within their rights to do so, whether it is fair or not is another debate. This only applies to players based in Ireland.

There is no evidence that any Irish players have an issue with this and all this talk of sanctions and punishment of rogue Irish players is pure fantasy at this stage.