Manu Samoa 7s has the slimmest of chances to secure an Olympic Games qualification as teams head into the last tournament of the HSBC World Sevens Series in London.

Only one Olympic spot remains as New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji, and France have qualified. France qualified by virtue of being the host which means one more team can make the cut.

Samoa is placed equal fifth with South Africa on 116 points, nine points behind Australia. Nothing short of winning the tournament and having luck on their side can make this possible. They have to pray that Australia does not make it out of the pool stages.

Coincidentally, Samoa is in the same pool as Australia along with France and Spain. But things have not been going the way coach Muliagatele Brian Lima would have hoped.

Two of his in-form players, Tuna Tuitama and Owen Niue were dropped days before the team left Samoa for the France leg, due to ill-discipline with the team's woes compounded by injury to four players.

Manuma Samoa captain Melani Matovao and another local talent Fuli Faafouina, New Zealand-based Pisi Leiula, and France-based Elijah Niko have been called into the team to play in London, England. Despite the changes, the coach has faith in his players and will give his best to ensure the team is well-prepared. 

Samoa starts their London campaign on Saturday morning at 2.03 am against France, then face Australia at 4.47 am and takes on Spain in their last pool game at 8.08 am.

France Sevens bronze medal winners Les Bleus headline Pool C alongside Australia, Spain, and Samoa with all eyes on the fixture on Saturday between Australia and Samoa in the battle to qualify for Paris 2024.

Australia Captain Nick Malouf reportedly said: “You can never underestimate something like an Olympic Games, for sure it would be a great achievement for the team to be set for Paris. 

"We haven’t changed our approach for this weekend in London, you have to stick with what you know.  We’ll be trying to give our best performances every time we step on the field.

“To be in the same pool as Samoa doesn’t worry us, we’ll focus on our game. We play great teams on the series all year round.  It’s always a huge challenge whoever you are up against and that game will be no different, I’m sure it’s something we’ll be ready for.  We’ll hopefully of getting the rewards for all our hard work this season, not just in one game in this tournament.”

The battle for the 11th spot in the 2024 Series – therefore avoiding this weekend’s World Rugby Sevens Series 2024 Play-off – went right down to the wire in Toulouse last Sunday. Spain defeated Samoa while Uruguay was defeated by Fiji, which saw Spain secure their spot in the 2024 Series.

This weekend’s play-off will consist of a round-robin between Uruguay and Canada, who finished fourth in Toulouse, Kenya, and Tonga, the World Rugby Sevens Series 2023 champions. The opening two matches will be played on Saturday with the final pool match taking place on Sunday morning.

The top two ranked teams following the group stage will square off on Sunday evening ahead of the cup final with the winner securing the 12th and final spot in the 2024 Series.

Canada captain Phil Berna said: “This is a great opportunity for us and we really see it that way after doing well recently.  There are three really good teams all looking for the same thing and it certainly won’t be easy.

“We take a lot of confidence from the way we’ve been playing we just have to put the same level of performance in here in London and hopefully that will lead to good things.  

"The World Series is a big prize for all the players and we’ll be doing our best to make sure we’re there next season.  We have to keep working as we always do, this is obviously a big weekend but we have to trust that if we keep focused and stay playing the game in front of us then the rest will take care of itself.”