Alec Coombes believes Great Britain’s men are primed to repeat their protracted tilt from Rio when rugby sevens begins tonight.
The silver medallists of five years ago kick off the group stages with a clash with Canada before returning to meet hosts Japan. Then comes a Tuesday tester from Fiji, reigning champions and presumed favourites for a repeated gold, ahead of the knockout stages.
With Covid-imposed funding cuts scything Scotland’s sevens programme and that of England and Wales, GB was the only game in town with the Hong Kong-born Scot gladly leaping aboard. And the meagre competition arranged on home soil and en route in Los Angeles has prepared them as well as can be, Coombes expects.
“That’s been difficulty, for all the teams,” the former Edinburgh centre said. “We've tried to get as much high-level competition in as we could at St George’s Park when we played the likes of Ireland and the USA. And then going out to LA, playing a few more teams then and getting different qualities out of that.
“But other teams have faced similar things. Kenya had to pull out of that LA tournament. And so they've had even less preparation or competitive preparation than we have. So we like to say that we're in a good place, going into these Games. And we're pretty well adapted to this whole situation. And just looking forward to getting stuck in.”
The 50,000-capacity Tokyo Stadium will host the rugby with the women entering the fray at the end of the week. In a cavernous arena, it will be anything like the carnival of fun that sevens traditionally generates with no fans allowed in these Pandemic Games.
“We're just focused on that gold medal,” his fellow Scot Max McFarland said. “It's a shame that there can't be crowds. But that's just where we're at.”
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