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Rugby-Cooper signs on for Sevens, seeks Rio2016 spot

MELBOURNE, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Wallaby flyhalf Quade Cooper has signed up to Australia's Rugby Sevens programme, and is seeking a spot on their Rio 2016 Olympic squad. The 27-year-old will be released by his French club side Toulon for the Sydney, Paris and London legs of the 2015-16 HSBC Sevens World Series, and will then link up with the squad in Sydney ahead of the Olympics, Australian Rugby said on Thursday. "As a rugby player growing up you never think you'll have the chance to play at an Olympics so I'll be doing everything I can to make the squad," Cooper said. "The Olympics is a real opportunity to grow the game of Rugby in Australia and it would be a privilege to play my part in that." Capped 58 times, Cooper was part of the Wallabies squad that finished runners-up at the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Rugby Sevens makes its Olympic debut at the Aug.5-21 Games. The last time rugby featured at an Olympics was in the 1924 Games in Paris, where the United States beat France for gold. (Writing by Ossian Shine in London,; editing by Justin Palmer)