IRB close country-hopping loophole
The International Rugby Board explained their Olympic Sevens qualifications guidelines and moved to close a loophole that would have allowed countries to exploit it for Test match purposes.
The IRB revealed the details of rulings made by their regulations committee relating to Regulation 8 (eligibility) and 9 (player release) to further assist member unions with their Olympic Games Sevens preparations.
With the global qualification process for Sevens' Olympic Games debut set to begin in October (men) and December (women), the Regulations Committee convened on September 2 to assist Unions with queries and ensure unity and consistency of implementation of the regulations.
"These rulings of the IRB Regulations Committee will further assist our unions with their preparation and underscores our commitment to ensure a successful and spectacular Olympic Games debut at Rio 2016 and beyond," IRB Chairman Bernard Lapasset said.
A player who holds a passport for a second country and who has not played international rugby for at least 18 months can apply to represent the second nation in the upcoming World Sevens Series.
The IRB's Regulations Committee has confirmed that appearing in one leg of the upcoming series is enough to qualify a player to compete for their new country at the 2016 Olympics.
If a players wishes to represent that nation in any other form of the game they will need to participate in at least four World Series tournaments, and at the Olympics Games.
The required stand-down period for other forms of the game is three years.
The committee also states that players will not be able to switch back to their former should their application to play for a second Union fall through.
With just an 18-month standown period given to players wanting to switch countries and play sevens at Rio 2016, there has been a fear some nations will use this to bolster their Test stocks ahead of next year's 15-man World Cup.
Already the IRB has indicated it will review each case carefully and won't be allowing players who don't fit the sevens stereotype to make the move. That has already been questioned as a possible breach of trade by players organisations.
Now the IRB have released a document detailing extra requirements.
It includes a provision that players looking to represent another country will have to play in a minimum of four sevens world series legs for their conversion to be approved – thus avoiding tokenism.
All players who applied this way would also have to take part in the Olympic Games in Rio in 2016.
The IRB also stepped in to clear up the messy scenario that enabled England, Scotland and Wales to contest the sevens under one banner, as part of the Great Britain Olympic team, rather than individual countries which was how they played in the Sevens world series.
The new ruling stated that for the purposes of Olympic qualification, England has been selected by the Great Britain unions as the lead team.
Therefore, Wales and Scotland can't qualify for Great Britain for the Olympics, nor can they take advantage of the loosened rules around players switching countries.
The first indications of which countries will look to entice players into their new teams will come when the next world series opens with the Gold Coast sevens in Australia next month.
Several former All Blacks, unwanted by New Zealand in recent years, are expected to be picked up by island nations where they have blood links.
These include Isaia Toeava and Rudi Wulf for Samoa while Fiji are eyeing Joe Rokocoko and Sitiveni Sivivatu.
