After some outstanding performances this season for Lightning, and their heavy involvement with both the Scotland 7s and 15s programme, there is no surprise that both Lloyd and Nelson have made the extended squad.
Speaking of her selection, Loughborough Student and Lightning player Rhona Lloyd said:
“I love rugby 7s and the Olympics is the pinnacle competition, so it has always been a dream of mine to compete in, so to be part of the extended Team GB training squad ahead of the Tokyo games is extremely exciting.
It is going to be a busy few months with a lot of overlap between 15s and 7s but it will be a fantastic learning opportunity to train alongside some world-class athletes from England and Wales.”
After starting her rugby career at Loughborough University Celia Quansah was given a student contract with England 7’s after just six months of playing for Lightning. She was awarded a full time contract in the 2018/19 season and was part of the England squad that was victorious in their Olympic qualifying event in Kazan.
Jodie Ounsley, a Loughborough College student, was awarded a full time contract with England 7’s in August 2019 after a great 2018/19 season with Loughborough Lightning and several impressive appearances for England U18s.
The 24 strong squad will be narrowed down to a final 13 just prior to the Olympic Games in July.
Forrest said: “I have been able to spend a decent amount of time with the English players and staff in their environment. With them being the one full-time squad competing on the World Series, this has been invaluable for me to get to know them better. I obviously know the Scotland 7s team very well and I have had some good conversations with Ollie Philips as well, since his appointment as Wales Women’s 7s coach.”
The first of the three planned camps will take place in Scotland this week and be followed by further camps in Wales and England in April.