2022 Commonwealth Games selection standards revealed for Scotland 7s teams

30 Nov 2020

Rugby 7s is among the first sports to agree the sport specific standards required for consideration for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, as Team Scotland aims to build on the momentum of the most recent two Games: the most successful ever overseas Games at Gold Coast 2018, and best ever home Games at Glasgow 2014.

All the sports policies follow the criteria laid down in the CGS General Selection Policy with athletes again being required to demonstrate potential to show a top six performance at the Games, each sport to meet its stated performance aims and for all athletes to have a positive experience at the Games. A further key aim is having a higher percentage of athletes selected who then meet or better the selection standards during the Games competition itself.

Selection for both Men’s and Women’s Rugby 7s teams will be subject to CGS receiving an invite to the tournament, which will feature 16 Men’s teams and eight Women’s teams. England as the Home Nation is eligible to enter one Men’s and one Women’s team, therefore the remaining top 15 Commonwealth Nations for Men based on World Rugby Ranking and the top seven for Women’s through the World Rugby Women’s Qualification Process will receive an invite.

In addition, the Men’s team must show a ranking of top ten or above of the Commonwealth countries competing at Birmingham 2022, at the end of April 2022, as evidence of potential for a top six finish at the Games.

Stephen Gemmell, Scottish Rugby Technical Director, said: “It’s been a challenging year for everyone, so with the publication of this policy, it’s nice to be able to give our athletes and players something look forward to in the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. The first priority will be to get both teams qualified and for all players aspiring to go to the Games to know exactly what they have to do to be selected to Team Scotland.”

The overall Team Scotland selection period detailed in the CGS General Selection Policy is 1 March 2021 to 15 May 2022. This policy, along with the detailed selection standards for the 2022 Commonwealth Games in all three sports published to date are available to download at: https://www.teamscotland.scot/games/birmingham-2022/team-selection/

The sport specific selection standards for all 19 sports will be published ahead of the selection window opening on 1 March 2021.