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Pollock confirms LA28 Olympic ambition but Great Britain face qualification battle

Northampton Saints flanker Henry Pollock has openly declared his desire to represent Great Britain Sevens at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, citing Antoine Dupont's Paris gold as inspiration — though GB men must first fight their way back onto the main SVNS circuit after relegation.

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Pollock confirms LA28 Olympic ambition but Great Britain face qualification battle
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Henry Pollock has confirmed that competing for Great Britain Sevens at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics is “definitely something I’m aspiring to do”, addressing speculation about a potential switch to the shortened format during a Q&A on his YouTube channel.

The 21-year-old Northampton Saints and England back-row has been linked with a prospective GB squad that could also include Marcus Smith, Tommy Freeman, Henry Arundell and Noah Caluori. RugbyPass reported in July that the five players had been identified as targets with LA28 in mind.

Pollock pointed to Antoine Dupont’s decision to temporarily shift focus to sevens — which culminated in France winning Olympic gold on home soil in Paris in 2024 — as a source of motivation. “Seeing what Antoine Dupont did in the last Olympics, it’s definitely given me some sort of motivation to play,” he said. “But I just need to take it step by step and hopefully it all fits in place and it naturally happens.”

His immediate attention, however, remains firmly on the 2025 Rugby World Cup in Australia. “Obviously we’ve got the World Cup next year, so that’s going to be big. Hopefully we do really well in that tournament,” Pollock said. “After that, see how it goes, see how my career goes and just keep enjoying my rugby.”

Any Olympic ambition faces a significant structural hurdle. Great Britain’s men were relegated from the top tier of the SVNS circuit in Bordeaux earlier this year and will compete in SVNS 2 this season rather than the eight-team elite division. That relegation complicates their path to Los Angeles considerably.

The qualification process for LA28 opens this season. Four berths will be allocated through the 2027 SVNS World Championship standings, six more through regional qualification, and a final place through a repechage scheduled for June 2028. The United States qualify automatically as tournament hosts, meaning the remaining eleven spots will be fiercely contested.

For Pollock, the dream is real but the road is long — and it runs through a World Cup first.

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