Speight and Kingston named as shadow players for Rio Olympics

Henry Speight and Tom Kingston have been named as shadow players for the Australian men’s sevens team’s Rio 2016 Olympics campaign.

The news was confirmed by the team on Twitter over the weekend.

The 12‑man Australian team was announced last week with Speight and Kingston omitted but they now have some hope of featuring in the Olympic tournament.

Former Wallabies winger Speight roared back into Olympic contention with a surprisingly quick recovery from a knee injury, while Kingston was unlucky to miss out on the first‑choice squad of coach Andy Friend.

Australia is pooled with South Africa, France and Spain.