Rio 2016: Rugby hunks face awkward transition in Olympic Sevens

All Black centre Sonny Bill Williams, Argentina winger Juan Imhoff and Scotland centre Mark Bennett are among the very few 15s players who will be starring when rugby sevens makes its Olympic debut this weekend.

Springbok flyer Bryan Habana and France flanker Fulgence Ouedraogo were just two of the high-profile stars not to have made the cut as the increasing demands of the ever-evolving abbreviated game show true. Sevens is played on the same full-size pitch as 15s, meaning skillsets, speed, strength in defence and an ability to read the game are essential attributes for a sport where the slighest mistake will be capitalised upon.

To much public delight, many 15s stars threw their hats into the ring for inclusion in the race for Olympic gold, but they were given a quick wake-up call after run-outs on the world sevens series, the 10-leg global circuit.

Thrown in amongst professional sevens players they quickly found they were not up to the mark, by far, in terms of fitness, skills and game-reading capability.

“It’s very tough!” Racing 92 and Pumas winger Imhoff said about his transition back from 15s to sevens.

“Physically, it's been complicated. I've thrown up several times in training sessions.” World Rugby chairman Bill Beaumont said 15s stars had been given their due chance by respective unions, insisting that sevens did not need big name players coming in, albeit recognising the social networking power of having someone like Sonny Bill Williams on board.

“There are going to be superstars that emerge from these Games,” the former England lock and captain said.

“A great many countries conducted trials for their 15-a-side players to try and get into the sevens squad but they didn't make it.” Sonny Bill Williams was a member of both 2011 and 2015 World Cup-winning squads and has also been named in Steve Hansen’s squad for this summer’s Rugby Championship.

Williams admitted that it had been a tough learning curve.

“The key was putting myself in the sevens environment through the whole year, to learn off my teammates and to become a sevens player,”Willams said.

“I’m just fortunate enough that (coach) Titch gave me a shot at the start of the year, to learn off the team,” he added.