The athletic fitness and skillsets required are off the charts and they go about their business on the periphery of the national sporting psyche.

The Olympics is their big shot, their time on Broadway, and all anyone wants to talk about right now as the men’s and women’s teams start their latest HSBC World Series campaigns in Dubai this weekend are stars from other stages.

Vikki Wall’s switch to the game from GAA and AFLW has understandably colonised interest on the female side. 

Antoine Dupont’s imminent turn with the French men’s sevens squad has caused a ripple of shock and excitement in the male domain.

Terry Kennedy and Jack Kelly, two of the side’s Olympians in Tokyo and key members of the squad currently on duty in the Middle East, were both happy enough with the attention Dupont’s news brought with it for the game.

“We love challenging ourselves against some of the best players,” said Kelly. “If it means that Paris is attracting the best players, then we’re very excited about that.” 

The move made by Dupont, and former Wallaby captain Michael Hooper, has inevitably caused some curiosity in other countries as to other potential XVs candidates and men’s sevens coach James Topping has discussed the possibility here with the IRFU.

Still, the likelihood of it happening would appear to be distinctly slim. Hugo Keenan has already ruled out the possibility of a switch back to a form of the game at which he excelled before and Kennedy isn’t really giving the whole issue much thought.

“We’re not concentrating on that at all. We’ve a really strong squad in here that have been around for a long time. It is a different sport, so I think if anyone is to make the move, they need to give ample time.

“Dupont is doing it for the year, otherwise they’ll just fall by the wayside. We’ve a really competitive squad in here already. A really strong squad that will put ourselves in a really good spot, no matter what.” 

Like their female counterparts, the men have already qualified for next year’s Olympic Games but the sport has little to no visibility on these shores given the global nature of the tour and the lack of a stop here in Ireland.

There are no European dates on the truncated eight-leg series in 2023/24 but Paris and London were both venues last time around and the Aviva Stadium’s size and location would make for a brilliant sevens venue over one weekend.

The exposure it would bring would be enormous.

“We don’t really have a say in what goes on there, but we’d absolutely love the opportunity to play in front of a home crowd,” said Kelly. “We’re very lucky that we have friends, family that follow us around the world all the time. We’re also lucky that the Irish diaspora is incredible.

“When we go to Sydney there is a big part of that stadium that is wearing green. That’s a very special thing for us, that we can bring those communities out and give them something to cheer for and just think of back home. Certainly for us it would be incredible if we could play in front of an Irish crowd.”