Rugby, Australian Football: Rugby chiefs to use Sevens to highlight Games case

By Ossian Shine
LONDON, Sept 24 (Reuters) - The International Rugby Board said on Friday it would invite Olympic chiefs to attend next season's IRB Sevens series in a bid to get rugby into the 2012 Games.
Rugby is one of five sports being assessed -- along with the 28 sports currently represented at the Games -- ahead of next July's decision on the 2012 programme.
"The IOC has officially notified the IRB that rugby is one of the sports to be considered for potential inclusion in the 2012 Olympic Games," IRB chief Mike Miller said on Friday.
"Rugby has already been through a similar process which led to an IOC Programme Commission in 2002 recommending rugby's inclusion in the 2008 Games in Beijing, and that was before the huge success of the 2003 Rugby World Cup in Australia," he added.