2024 Olympic Men’s Rugby 7s Predictions: Wide Open Scrum For the Gold Medal

One of the first events to start in the 2024 Olympics is the rugby sevens competition in Paris. This is also one of the most fun events in the Paris games, as it takes the sport of rugby and shrinks it down into a fast-paced series of games where the action does not stop. Here, we will give our betting picks for the Olympic men’s rugby 7s competition, one where the hosts will have their eyes on the gold medal.

Olympic Men’s Rugby 7s Betting Odds

Odds from DraftKings Sportsbook

The favorites to win the Olympic men’s rugby 7s competition are the French, who will be playing on home soil. Home soil or not, this team has been excellent in the Rugby Sevens World Series this year, winning the Los Angeles event and placing in the top-three in Vancouver and Hong Kong before winning the Grand Final to end the season. But every team in this competition is at odds of +200 or longer, which speaks to how wide open this event is and how many teams have a chance to come away with gold.

Olympic Men’s Rugby 7s Major Storylines

When it comes to Olympic men’s rugby 7s storylines, the question will be whether teams who started the year strong or finished strong will come out on top of this competition. Argentina came out on fire to start the most recent Sevens World Series, winning three of the first four stops, while New Zealand was hot in the late stages of the competition before took the Grand Final in Madrid. Which of those situations will prove most beneficial? Only time will tell.

Another storyline will focus on South Africa, who have been subpar throughout the year in the Sevens World Series. South Africa won one Sevens World Series event but struggled for most of the year, finishing at the bottom of their pool in the final event of the year in Madrid. They will need to be much better to grab a medal in Paris, but it doesn’t seem that they are capable of much better right now.

Olympic Men’s Rugby 7s Medal Contenders

The top contenders for medals in the Olympic men’s rugby 7s are , Argentina, New Zealand, and Fiji. All four of these teams have played well over the last year of sevens action, as they should be in the mix for gold. Ireland and Australia should not be counted out of the medal hunt either, with Ireland finishing in the top-three in four of the final six Sevens World Series events of the most recent campaign.

Men’s Rugby 7s Betting Prediction: New Zealand (+350)

Our top pick for the gold medal in the Olympic men’s rugby 7s competition is New Zealand in what should be a really tight competition among the top-five teams or so. New Zealand finished strong this year in sevens competition and they should be able to build on that, even if won the final sevens competition leading up to this event and will be a tough out on their home pitch.