The Rugby Europe Championship sevens series second leg 2024 for men and women takes place in Hamburg, Germany, over the coming days with lots to play for and twists and turns guaranteed.
In the men’s series first leg in Makarska earlier in the month, France took the gold medal with Ireland second, Germany third and Georgia fourth.
Portugal were fifth, Italy were sixth, Great Britain seventh, Belgium eighth, Spain ninth, Lithuania 10th, Croatia 11th and Ukraine 12th.
With France and Ireland getting ready to head to the Paris Olympics in July they will be the favourites to do well in this second leg event in Hamburg and there could be quite a scrap for the overall title.
The two teams have quality throughout and in the first leg in Croatia they met in the final.
In that game, an early try from Enahemo Artaud put France 5-0 up before Ireland levelled things up through Connor O'Sullivan after great footwork. It was converted and the Irish were 7-5 up.
Artaud then beat some poor defence to score his second which was converted to make it 12-7. That was the score at half-time and the second period was scoreless as France took gold.
In Germany, other countries will be looking to knock them off their perfect including Great Britain who just missed out on a place at the Olympics after the repechage event in Monaco last weekend.
For this event, France and Great Britain are in Pool A with Ukraine and Italy.
The 12-team tournament is completed by Ireland being in Pool C with Croatia, Portugal and Belgium while Pool C consists of the hosts, Georgia, Spain and Lithuania.
The first men’s match is France-Ukraine on Friday at 12.30pm local (10.30am UTC).
The women’s second leg will also feature 12 teams and starts two and a half hours earlier at 10am local time (8am UTC) on Friday.
Poland took gold in leg one, France took home silver, Belgium the bronze and Spain settled for fourth.
Czechia were fifth, Germany sixth, Great Britain seventh, Ireland eighth, Italy ninth, Türkiye 10th, Portugal 11th and Ukraine 12th.
France, Great Britain and Ireland are all now just a few weeks away from playing at the Olympics, so they will be aiming to look sharp over the coming days and will be keen to battle it our with Poland for the gold.
If Great Britain and Ireland have stronger showings than the first leg then the over title winners battle will also be fascinating.
A lot of good rugby to come then and Poland and Great Britain are in Pool A with the hosts and Ukraine.
Pool B has France and Ireland in it along with Portugal and Czechia and Belgium, third last time, are in Pool C with Spain, Italy and Türkiye.
The first women’s tie of the meet in Hamburg sees Belgium take on Türkiye.
All games will live on Rugby Europe TV with some restrictions in the following territories :
Germany : https://hamburg7s.tv/hhs (exclusive in Germany) and Sport1
Poland : Online coverage on TVP Sport digital platforms www.sport.tvp.pl
Czechia : Online coverage on CT Sport for Czech national team games: https://sport.ceskatelevize.cz
Lithuania: LRT PLUS channel for Lithuanian national team games - www.lrt.lt
Spain : RTVE: Online coverage on RTVE PLAY platform - for Spanish national teams games + the final
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