There was a time when a first day exit from the Dubai Sevens for the leading representative side from the British Isles would have prompted debate about whether the short-form programme was worth the effort at all.
The performance of the Great Britain side on the opening day of the 2025 HSBC SVNS did precisely the opposite, though.
The GB side missed out on a place in Sunday’s cup semi-finals after narrow defeats to New Zealand and Australia.
But their display in each of those losses, as well as in the uplifting 14-10 win over last year’s runners-up, Spain, belied the fact their players had been together for less than a week.
GB only just retained their place as a core side after finishing eighth on the world series last season. World Rugby then controversially capped the new series at eight teams.
But even though the place was available to GB, doubts still persisted over their survival – and what form it would take.
This summer it appeared as though the GB programme might go the same way as that of Ireland’s men, and be disbanded completely.
Wales and England pulled their support. Scotland stepped in to save the project, meaning GB sevens is now run from there, with the majority of the players being drawn from there, as well as the coaching staff.
Still, uncertainty has persisted. “There’s a reality to it,” Ciaran Beattie, the GB coach, said.
“As a group, we arrived on Monday. We had a light mapping session on Tuesday, and that was the first time the 13 had worked together.
“We'd trained for four days prior, and obviously we've got a couple of guys with experience as well, but I’d have bitten your arm off if you’d given me this [start] to begin with.
“However, I think when you're in the moment, we're competitive animals. There were some bits in both of our losses where we feel we could have crossed the line. That's a good feeling.
“Everybody is feeling like, ‘Goodness me; we coulda, shoulda, woulda,’ which is nice. We need to back it up tomorrow [in the plate competition] for us to go, ‘Do you know what? The only way we're going is up.’”
It says much about modern sevens that GB were heavy underdogs against a Spain side who finished third on the world series last season.
Even though it has been some time now since Britain’s constituent parts were thrown together to form a GB side, it still takes some getting used to.
England were four-time winners of Dubai Sevens. Their matches against Scotland and Wales were always among the most atmospheric of the weekend. And yet now everyone has to rub along nicely together.
“I've been involved with this programme from the start as director of rugby,” Beattie said. “My learning is we were trying to come together for Great Britain and, yes, that's massively important.
“But actually one of the things we anchor on is the team, the people that are in there. We're all English, Scottish, Welsh, but we're all very tight. We're good mates.
“And you can see that. When you are 19-nil down against Australia, having done well in the first two games, we could easily go, ‘Do you know what, boys, we've had hardly any time together, well done, we've had a good day.’
“But we didn't, and we fight back and we put ourselves in a position to win the game. You can only do that if you're together, and that's exactly what we're going after.”
One of the leading players in the side was returning to sevens after a gap of nine years. Damien Hoyland had some triumphs with Scotland, including winning the Twickenham Sevens, before going on to represent their XVs side.
Having played in the United States most recently, Beattie asked him if he would consider a comeback to help out GB, and he jumped at the chance.
“It is amazing to get the opportunity to come back and play,” Hoyland said. “I love rugby and I want to keep going until I can’t go on any more.
“I still have a little bit in the legs, and I am going to keep going until I can’t.”
GB will be joined in the second-tier competition on Sunday by Argentina. The back-to-back world series winners and South Africa, Dubai’s most successful side, both crashed out on the opening day.
France and Fiji topped their group. They will be joined in the cup semi-finals by New Zealand and Australia.
In the women’s tournament, five-time champions Australia were the only undefeated side on Day 1. They advanced from their pool with Japan, and will be joined in the last four by New Zealand and Fiji.
