Taking a brief departure from our usual fascination with athletes caught with altered blood chemistry or behaving badly, we wanted to explore allegations of a conspiracy theory.
A rugby coach from Great Britain, Eddie Jones, feels that the selection of Jarryd Hayne for the Fiji Sevens squad for the Rio Olympics, suspects that other factors may have been at work behind the scenes in the selection of Hayne to the 23-man team.
Jones may not be singular in his suspicion, as Sevens is the national game in Fiji and there are plenty of players loyal to the game of rugby and not traipsing around the globe, changing codes whenever the whim arises.
Hayne played sporadically in the London Sevens event, the last international competition before Rio, and to even casual observers, his form was not up to Fijian Sevens standards. He seemed almost as lost, despite his former NRL glory, at reading the play as he did whilst trying to assimilate the nuances of the National Football League when he was trying to make the side of the San Francisco 49ers.
Hayne himself admitted getting caught in the ruck and struggling at times in London.
The Fijians are favoured to take the Gold Medal in Rio, and perhaps they feel that Hayne will attract publicity.
