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Team GB Rugby Sevens coach Simon Amor not looking to fill any quotas for Rio Olympics

Simon Amor insisted the top-performing players will be selected to travel to Brazil
Image: Simon Amor insists the top-performing players will be selected to travel to Brazil

Simon Amor will not fill any quotas when selecting Team GB's Rugby Sevens squad for the Rio Olympics.

Head coach Amor has insisted the top-performing players will be selected to travel to Brazil, irrespective of their nationality.

Every British and Irish Lions tour squad selection is picked apart for the numbers representing each nation, but Amor claims there will be no need for any similar process for the eventual Team GB line-up.

Amor will finalise his 12-strong squad selection on July 19, before the GB men's outfit face New Zealand, Kenya and Japan in group-stage action, starting on August 9.

"There has been no quota set," said Amor of the impending Team GB selection.

"As soon as I got the job, I committed 100 per cent to sending the very best team we could possibly to the Olympics.

"That meant making some tough calls for resting and recovering the England guys, knowing we needed a squad of at least 24 going in.

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"But now it's about that blend and that balance, and that's what we're trying to do in training, seeing who works well together.

"So it may not be the best individual players, it may be who works best with that particular player.

"So nothing to do with quotas, we'll send what we think is the best squad."

Scotland celebrate winning the World Rugby Sevens Series tournament at Twickenham
Image: Scotland won the World Rugby Sevens Series tournament at Twickenham in May

The 24-man wider GB squad have been deep in gruelling pre-Rio training for more than six weeks now.

Amor's squad split into two teams to enter last weekend's Sevens In The City competition in London, with both reaching the final.

The GB Lions saw off the GB Royals 27-14, to raise the intensity once again on the battle for places at Rio.

Britain's two sides will face the likes of France and Spain in the 2016 Exeter Sevens in Devon this weekend, with Amor relishing both the internal and external competition.

"The players would not have it any other way than simply us selecting the players we think will make the best possible squad," said Amor.

"They've worked so hard, they've bonded really well and they've given everything. It's the only way it can be.

"The teams that are very, very good, the teams that are great in Sevens, it's the teams that have an unbelievable team spirit and fight hard for each other.

"Sevens is pushing yourself to dark places, it's people absolutely exhausted and falling over.

"It's that level, then there's the level above, where the guys who will do even more because of the group they're working with."