Brazil rugby sevens under pressure as Rio spotlight looms

They are the only rugby sevens team to have secured a place at the Summer Olympics in Rio next year -- but host team Brazil face monumental hurdles to hold their own in a world-class field.
Twelve sides will line up in Rio de Janeiro in August 2016 as sevens makes its Olympic debut.
They will include the top four teams from the Sevens World Series, plus others from regional qualifiers.
Brazil have been granted an automatic place as the host nation and are likely to find themselves facing powerhouse sides such as New Zealand, Fiji and South Africa.
But the team are still amateurs, many of them with jobs or studying, and are struggling to make their mark in a country dominated by football.
"We already have a guaranteed spot... but with that comes a lot of responsibility," says captain Fernando Portugal.
"The main goal is to be very competitive. Interest in the sport is growing a lot (in Brazil)... we are trying to make rugby one of the main physical education classes in schools.
"But we don't have people to teach it, so there are a lot of foreigners that go to Brazil for that."
Portugal says facilities are still lacking to take the game to the next level.
"There's a lot of beach rugby in Brazil because we have to go against football for space to play," he told AFP.
"Even really minor soccer teams are given preference over rugby (for pitches). I train on the beach sometimes."
Brazil's desire to make it to the final stages of the qualifier event at this weekend's Hong Kong Sevens was palpable.
The winner of that tournament takes a place with the top-ranked "core" sides next season.
But after reaching the quarter-finals on Saturday, they lost to Zimbabwe 21-14.
"We are training very hard but it's a big challenge for us," says coach Andres Romagnoli.
"Many players have jobs or studies. We are step by step creating a better high-performance mentality."
He hopes that six new rugby training centres in Brazil will mean a brighter future for the sport.
World Rugby say that they are giving more support to Brazil as a developing rugby nation.
"We've been working with Brazil for the last six years," said Mark Egan, head of competitions and performance.
He admitted though that access to good sports facilities was an "ongoing challenge" for rugby there.
"It's about raising the profile of the sport," Egan said, adding that World Rugby was putting half a million US dollars a year into Brazil's rugby programmes.
"They have tremendous potential," he said.
For Romagnoli, what happens in Rio could set the pace for years to come.
"Rugby is unknown in Brazil. We hope after Rio it will become a known game."
Source: AFP