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The International Rugby Board’s committee are gearing up for Friday’s crunch decision on whether Rugby Sevens will be included in the Olympic Games.

The President of the IRB, Bernard Lapasset, is leading the team presenting Rugby Sevens' case at the 121st International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Copenhagen this week.

"Our team is very excited to be presenting to the full IOC membership on Friday and has been rehearsing and preparing very thoroughly. We were honoured to be recommended by the IOC Executive Board and now we are looking forward to sharing our vision for Olympic Games inclusion with the broader membership. We firmly believe that Rugby would be good for the Games and the Games good for Rugby" said Lapasset.

"We offer the Olympic Games young, passionate fans that will travel to the Games and fill the stadiums to cheer on Rugby as well as the other Olympic sports. The IRB is also committed to working with every National Olympic Committee to develop their men's and women's Sevens teams and to promote the growth of the sport around the world. Rugby is reaching out."

President Lapasset will be joined by IRB Chief Executive Mike Miller who is adamant of that Olympic inclusion is a major turning point for the sport.

"I don't think people realise yet how big this could be for rugby," Miller said earlier this week.

"This is right up there with the inception of the Rugby World Cup and the game going open. We have 116 members of the IRB, but there are 205 nations involved in the Olympics and I have already been approached by a number of countries who have said that if sevens is included, they will be interested in investing in rugby."

Former Argentina captain Agustín Pichot, Cheryl Soon, captain of the Australia team that won the Women's Rugby World Cup Sevens in 2009, Kenya Sevens captain Humphrey Kayange, Anastassiya Khamova, one of Kazakhstan's top female players and New Zealand Rugby legend Jonah Lomu join the pair

"The Olympic Games is the pinnacle for every athlete around the world. Rugby Sevens is a global sport played by the sport's most skilful athletes. Our top players want to be a part of the Olympic Family and experience playing on the world's greatest sporting stage. They would be proud Olympians," said Lomu, who won Rugby Sevens gold at the 1998 Commonwealth Games.

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