DUBAI // An Olympic dream born in England and Jamaica, that hopes to culminate in Japan in four years’ time, became further entrenched on Pitch 1 at the Dubai Rugby Sevens on Saturday.
When Conan Osborne scored the final try of Abu Dhabi Harlequins’ win over Jebel Ali Dragons in the Gulf Men’s League final at The Sevens, he was doing so in front of the biggest crowd he has yet played before.
Now that he has had a taste for the big occasion, he is hoping it might become a regular occurrence.
As the captain of the Jamaica sevens team, the 23-year-old Harlequins winger is working on a roadmap towards playing at the Games in Tokyo in 2020.
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Jamaica clearly has a rich Olympic heritage, most obviously via sprint kings like Usain Bolt. Its rugby pedigree may be minimal to non-existent, at least on the international stage.
However, given the premium sevens places on speed, Osborne is confident they can assemble a side to compete, if they get the right backing.
He cites Kenya, who have gone from rugby minnows to sevens series regulars in quick time, and the United States, who have become contenders thanks to cross-over athletes like Perry Baker and Carlin Isles, as examples to follow.
“We believe the Kenya example can be a driver for us, and sprinters will soon start to convert to rugby in a Carlin Isles-type fashion – and we have faster than him on the island,” Osborne said.
In April, Jamaica will play at the Hong Kong Sevens, having qualified for the event via a competition in Trinidad in October.
At that competition in Hong Kong, core team status for the following season’s World Sevens Series is decided, and Jamaica hope to be in the shake up.
“We have played on the UK circuit, gelling as a team and getting to know systems,” Osborne said.
“The first time this has been done, we took some big scalps over the summer on the UK circuit including Wasps, Ulster and a few others.
“Hopefully a lot more sponsors are going to be coming on board now we’ve qualified for the world stage, and if we win our section of Hong Kong we can qualify for the full World Series. It’s a long shot, but we’ve managed to prove people wrong already.”
The story of Jamaica’s attempts to defy rugby convention by making it to Tokyo 2020 to play sevens is nothing if not an international one.
Osborne lives in Abu Dhabi where he works as a consultant for NBAD.
Their new coach, the former England sevens international Marcel Garvey, lives in France. The squad comprises mostly of dual-heritage players based in England, but also has a Welshman and an Italian.
“After [playing in the North American qualifier for the Olympics last year], I believed there would be a lot of players like myself, born and raised in the UK with Jamaican heritage,” Osborne said
“I saw that on the island, there was pace, power and raw aggression, but lacking in skills – absolute athletes basically. So I sought out a UK coach, and we set up a combine-type thing, calling out to Jamaican-heritage players.”
That coach, former England sevens player James Bailey, has since moved on after taking charge of England women, whom he guided to fourth-place in Dubai on Friday. He thinks his former charges have plenty of potential.
“I think they can be a success, the talent is definitely there so long as they get the backing,” Bailey said.
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