IRB step up Olympic bid

The International Rugby Board are using this week's event - which includes a 24-team men's competition and 16-team women's tournament - to showcase their Olympic campaign.

Rugby is competing with baseball and softball, golf, karate, squash and roller-sports for two places in the Olympic Games programme from 2016.

A fortnight ago, the IRB completed their 2016 programme review questionnaire in which they gave detailed answers to 80 questions from the IOC.

Now comes the practical assessment. Two International Olympic Committee delegates will be in Dubai in time to see Wales face Zimbabwe in the first match of the tournament.

IRB chief executive Mike Miller said: "The IOC will be watching. They have two delegates here from their programme commission. They will be filing a report which is similar to the bid city report.

"They are looking for a combination of the operational aspect and the fit of the event itself in the Olympics.

"They will be looking at how easy it is to run, how easy it is to integrate into the programme. Are there people they could use to help run an Olympic event? The answer is yes.

"On the other side, they will be looking at what the sport is like. What is the interaction with the fans? What is the demographic of the fans? Is it family-friendly? Does TV like it?

"The good thing for us is that what the Olympics is looking for is to reduce its age profile and rugby sevens does that.

"We also bring travelling supporters who would come along and watch the rugby but also go to other events as well.

"Everyone who comes to a sevens event is impressed and we expect them to be as well."

The IOC will be visiting one showcase event from all seven tender sports before a final decision on which two sports are to be elevated to Olympic status is made in Copenhagen this October.

The IRB became am IOC recognised international federation in 1995 and believe they meet all the criteria for inclusion in the Olympics - from its spirit of fair play to its ability to lure new commercial partners to the Games.

The IRB argue sevens is the ideal way to make use of an Olympic stadium in the first week of the Games, when it usually lies empty.

England won the first ever World Cup Sevens in 1993 with a team featuring the likes of Matt Dawson and Lawrence Dallaglio.

The current vintage arrived in Dubai ranked level with South Africa on top of the world rankings and with big things expected of them after a remarkable turnaround in the last six months.

"We have gone from fifth in the world to joint number one," said coach Ben Ryan.

"We have made four of the last five finals. We won in Wellington and we want to follow the 1993 boys."

The inclusion of Leicester winger Tom Varndell has caused a stir among the other teams, while Ben Gollings and captain Ollie Phillips have been interviewed by Hello magazine in Dubai.

Scotland are grouped with South Africa while Ireland are in with Samoa.

In the women's event, England arrive in Dubai with great expectations on their shoulders after winning the recent tournament in San Diego.

Experienced captain Sue Day said: "Winning tournaments in the run-up to it gives us a lot of confidence. It does bring pressures but I have told the girls to enjoy it and thrive on it."

The Russian women's team features two Olympic sprinters while Brazil's qualification helped emphasise the IRB's argument about the spread of the sport.

Eighty-seven countries attempted to qualify for the men's tournament with 84 attempting to reach the women's event.

"For people who don't know rugby, it's a simpler game, it's fast and it's furious," Miller added.

"It is easy to get to understand and also it is not just sport but a festival. When people come along they get hooked."