All Blacks great calls for World Rugby to introduce Olympics ‘window’ despite its ‘unfair’ repercussions
France and Antoine Dupont celebrating Olympic gold and ex-All Black Justin Marshall.
Former All Blacks scrum-half Justin Marshall wants the game’s governing body to take action to allow the best rugby players in the sport to be able to compete at the Olympics.
Sevens has become so specialised that it can take time for XVs stars to transition and become effective in the shorter form of the game.
Antoine Dupont had to sacrifice the Six Nations in order to prepare for his home Games, but it paid off as they won gold on Saturday.
Dupont was absolutely key to their success, assisting one try and scoring two himself in the final as the French ended Fiji’s dominance at the Olympics.
They claimed a 28-7 triumph in front a raucous crowd at the Stade de France in what was a memorable moment for both the country and rugby.
In between big Tests
However, the men’s competition was sandwiched in between the July Tests and the Rugby Championship, almost reducing its relevance in the grand scheme of things.
Marshall would like to see World Rugby create a window every four years which would allow the best in the game to compete at the Olympics.
“I was looking at the schedule and what’s coming up at the Olympics, and you see the American team that’s over there for golf, you’ve got the number one player in the world,” he told The Platform.
“The team they’ve got there, other sports are allowing the top, top athletes in the world to go but for some reason rugby hasn’t got the window for that.
“When you’re talking every four years, blocking out that little window so we can see all the biggest superstars in the game out there competing, it would be amazing.”
Other side of the debate
Should the game get to a situation where the big names are able to commit to sevens ahead of the Olympics, it would deny some specialists an opportunity they have worked years for.
That, Marshall admits, would be unfair, but that ultimately winning is the only objective and the New Zealand men’s side have never done that at an Olympics.
“If I was playing devil’s advocate, you’ve got young players and other players that have fully committed to sevens and they’ve got their big moment once every four years, but all of a sudden their jersey gets taken off them from these big superstars,” he added.
“I guess there’s an argument to say that’s not really fair because they’ve worked hard.
“Unfortunately, the flip side of that has been the lack of success. We want to win gold in anything we do don’t we, particularly in rugby?”
