FIVE Scottish men and one woman have been named in the extended Great Britain sevens squads for this summer’s Rio Olympics.
Scotland centre Mark Bennett is joined by sevens specialists Mark Robertson, Scott Riddell, Gavin Lowe and Jamie Farndale in Simon Amor’s 25-man men’s training pool, while Steph Johnston is in the 23-woman GB squad.
The men will now gather on 30 May for a seven-week training period and four international competitions.
Bennett was left out of Scotland’s touring squad to Japan earlier this week and will now, along with his compatriots, look to earn a spot in the final selections as sevens makes its Olympics debut. The Glasgow Warriors centre, who was nominated for Breakthrough Player of the Year after the World Cup, represented Scotland at the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and represented Scotland on the 2013 world sevens circuit.
Riddell has competed in two Commonwealth Games, two Sevens World Cups and played in almost every minute of Scotland’s 2013-14 and 2014-15 World Series’ campaigns.
Other 15-a-side players named are Cory Allen (Cardiff Blues), James Davies (Scarlets), Ollie Lindsay-Hague (Harlequins), Joe Simpson (Wasps) and Marcus Watson (Newcastle Falcons).
GB Olympic training squads:
Men: C Allen (Cardiff), M Bennett (Glasgow), D Bibby (England 7s) , T Bowen (England 7s), P Burgess (England 7s), S Cross (Wales 7s), J Davies (Scarlets), A Davis (England Sevens), R De Carpentier (England 7s), J Farndale (Scotland 7s), A Gray (England 7s), C Hayter (England 7s), W Lahmert (England 7s), O Lindsay-Hague (Harlequins), G Lowe (Scotland 7s), R McConnochie (England 7s), T Mitchell (England 7s), L Morgan (Wales 7s, D Norton (England 7s), S Riddell (Scotland 7s), M Robertson (Scotland 7s), J Rodwell (England 7s), J Simpson (Wasps), L Treharne (Wales 7s), M Watson (Newcastle).
Women: (Eng unless stated) C Allan, N Brennan, A Brown, R Burford, H Fisher, V Fleetwood, N Hunt, J Joyce (Wales 7s), S Johnston (Scotland 7s), M Jones, A Matthews, F Matthews, S Mckenna, K Mclean, M Packer, A Richardson, E Scarratt, E Scott, M Staniford, D Waterman, J Watmore, K Wilson, A Wilson Hardy.
