SEVENS RUGBY IN THE OLYMPICS: THE POSSIBILITY of rugby becoming an Olympic sport will be known tomorrow when the International Olympic Committee's (IOC) executive makes a recommendation in Berlin on the eve of the World Athletics Championships.

Seven sports are vying for a maximum of two recommendations with rugby sevens in a strong, some say pole, position to capture one of those places and return to the Olympic fold for the first time since the Paris Games in 1924.

For the IRFU the challenge of fielding a sevens team that is good enough to compete in an Olympic Games while at the same time maintaining a world-class XV will be formidable and may be fraught. The IRFU are fully behind rugby’s bid but if the IRB are successful in their frantic behind-the-scenes lobbying there will be some hard thinking to be done in Ireland over the next few years leading up to the 2016 event.

“We’re fully supportive of the application and the benefits that would accrue to the game in a total sense,” says IRFU director of rugby, Eddie Wigglesworth. “If rugby was accepted we’d seek to give it a high profile. But there is no doubt that a lot would depend on the selection process for the team. Young players and older players would love the chance to become Olympians but it would also be in total conflict with the Magners League and Heineken Cup, not to mention international rugby.

“Would we play the IRB Sevens series to ensure we qualified if that was part of the selection process? Would we start it two years out, four years out? There is also a very different physiological aspect to sevens.”

Ireland have only dipped their toes into the sevens game. While Irish teams have played in Dubai and Hong Kong, the IRFU believe that they would initially have to start with a squad of 20 players, who would concentrate on the sevens game. That would be in addition to the 32 players contracted to Ulster, Leinster and Ulster and the 28 in Connacht. The financial outlay would be enormous.

“We found in Dubai in March that if you are not playing sevens regularly in the IRB Series you get hosed by teams like Kenya, Canada or the USA,” said Wigglesworth. “You can’t just walk on to a pitch in a totally new game and expect to win. It’s physical but not as physical at the 15-man game and the type of fitness needed is different too. We’ve seen that in Dubai.

“But really a lot of it depends on the selection or qualifying process. If it was open and they (IOC) said there was no selection, it’s the best 12 teams then we’d have an issue about what players to put in. A closed selection is a very expensive process and we are not awash with money. People think we are but we are not as most of it went into the stadium. They (IOC and IRB) may say a player can only be available if he has played in six out of the eight IRB Series or that a country must compete in the IRB Series. These are very important issues to know.

“Kenya, for example, are doing very well. They are competitive and compete in the IRB Series. How would Uganda get in? They don’t have the money and the IRB wouldn’t have the money. Would it be like soccer where it’s under-23 and would that age profile fit the game of rugby? Would there be an Olympic qualifying tournament?”

The devil is in the detail and while Wigglesworth is far from panicking, the challenge to dovetail the extremely reputable and successful brand of 15-man rugby with the sevens game is the problem that jumps out.

The IOC is notoriously detailed about selection processes and adhering to their protocol. They also like to see a global spread in the game, which rugby does have especially in sevens and they want to see gender balance, which in rugby is much less developed on the women’s side. If successful in gaining entry, that in time could become an issue.

“Take a young guy on a sevens contract, which tends to be lower value,” explains Wigglesworth. “Then halfway through he’s offered a Munster or Leinster contract in the 15-man game. Then where do we put him, in the Olympics or as a potential 15s player with Munster or Leinster. Also if the top players in 15s say we want to be an Olympian, you know, that could be a problem.”

The idea of the Olympic Games, however, is no problem, says Wigglesworth, simply a challenge. And an attractive challenge at that.