Have you ever heard the joke about the Englishmen, the Scotsmen and the Welshmen?

In 2016, a band of rugby brothers from Great Britain were thrust together and flown out to Brazil to compete in the world’s oldest sporting event - the Olympics.

Let’s call them The Misfits.

Together, the unlikely lads were to compete in the inaugural rugby sevens event in Rio de Janeiro, with the sport returning after a 92-year hiatus from the 15-a-side version.

Within the group was 24-year-old English winger Marcus Watson.

Despite his relatively young years, Watson was something of an expert in rugby sevens. Having made his England debut at age 19, the brawny athlete had played on the competition’s biggest stages around the globe, in front of the most hostile crowds. However, walking into the Olympic Village was like nothing he had experienced before.

“You walk into the Olympic Village, and the best way to describe it is like human Jurassic Park,” he chuckles.

“The first people we saw were the Australian basketball team. One guy, seven foot two, seven foot three, massive. And then following them were the women’s GB gymnasts, who were tiny. So you got someone that you can walk through his legs, and then other people that can walk through yours - it’s crazy.”

Within the village were sporting legends, and while you would assume athletes do not get as starstruck as we mortals, some could not contain themselves in the presence of greatness.

“It’s a place for some of the big athletes, like Usain Bolt, Nadal, Djokovic, the Williams sisters, and then we saw some of the American basketball team. So those were a few of the big stars we saw quite early doors.”

For Usain Bolt, he may have assumed his first race would be on the track, but his fellow athletes ensured his first dash was in an unlikely location.

“Most of the big stars stay outside of the village. But Usain Bolt actually went into the lunchroom, and he probably thinks maybe it’s somewhere he could take his time, but everyone was just trying to get photos with him, so he had to run out of the Olympic lunchroom. It was incredible.”

After adjusting to their unfamiliar surroundings, the Misfits now had to familiarise themselves with each other and somehow forge an identity. While many may have seen their lack of cohesion as a weakness, it became their secret weapon.

“It was the first time ever that we’d played together, because it was the first time England, Wales, Scotland had mixed. Some people saw that as maybe a negative, because we had no potential cohesion coming in, but our coach did an unbelievable job. Best coach I've had was Simon Amor in flipping that narrative and making it right.

“Other teams didn’t know what we’re capable of because there’s so much analysis that goes on now. They had no analysis on us because we’d never played together before, and that worked in our favour.”

The Misfits dismantled minnows Kenya 31-7 in their opening Pool C game before bagging narrow victories over Japan and New Zealand to top their group and set up a quarter-final clash with Argentina.

Watson and his newfound allies needed extra time to overcome Los Pumas before clinching a dramatic win over the second-seeds, South Africa, with the last kick of the game. That triumph set up a clash with the number one seeds and tournament favourites, Fiji.

“The final was a strange experience,” Watson continued. “The way I’ve said it to people is, I don’t know if this is my mindset or what, but I would have been absolutely gutted if we’d lost that final by a couple of points.”

Fiji dismantled Team GB 43-7 to claim the country’s first-ever Olympic gold medal, but despite the heavy loss, the overriding feeling was success.

“We got pumped in that final pretty badly, and in some weird way, that actually maybe makes it slightly easier, because we weren’t even close to that gold medal.

“Amazing experience to be standing on the podium. We set out as a target to medal, and we managed to do that, so I’d say that was a big tick in that box for sure.”

Now 34 years of age, Watson lives an incredibly normal life. Having finished his career with Italian side Benetton, he moved back to England and now works for his family business in procurement within the oil and gas industry.

“There’s a bit of doom and gloom around retirement. At the moment, I’ve been very fortunate that I can go into a family business. I’m maybe not the most relatable when it comes to that, in all honesty, but I’ve enjoyed the transition, and at the moment, I actually don’t miss rugby.”

Watson admits that he hasn’t fully escaped rugby, though, as he finds time to coach the next generation at Cobham Rugby and Cranmore School, where the children are blissfully unaware of the grandeur of talent teaching them.

Since the Rio Olympics, Team GB’s rugby sevens has been on the decline to the point that the men’s team did not even qualify for Paris 2024, and last year the situation became even more bleak.

At the end of July, the Great Britain men's and women’s full-time sevens programme was scrapped because of financial pressures and a bid to improve the crossover with the 15-a-side game.

“GB7s does not receive central Olympic funding, unlike many other unions it is competing with, and we believe the model the series is run under could be more financially effective for individual unions,” RFU performance director Conor O’Shea told England Rugby.

“We understand the way in which player and coach contracts will change will be disappointing to many involved, and we will work closely with the Rugby Players Association to ensure that each of our players continue to be well supported and understand all the options available to them.”

Players are no longer on permanent contracts and instead will unite to train and play at the World SVNS Series, triggering concerns that Team GB will struggle to compete on the world stage.

Given the current rugby sevens situation in Great Britain, Watson’s story may never be replicated again, but a Misfits sequel is what rugby yearns for.

This in-depth radio documentary investigates the current state of PE in UK primary schools - investigating whether the recommended two hours a week are being met and if they’re enough to support children’s health and development.

Through interviews with the Youth Sport Trust’s Dean Pomeroy, independent education consultant Julie Pearson, former headteacher Mark Clutterbuck, PE coordinator James Pritchard, and primary school teacher Katie Hammond, the documentary explores the realities behind the curriculum, the challenges of teacher training, and the concerns around safety in activities like gymnastics.

Subscribe now