RIO DE JANEIRO -- Great Britains mens rugby team will return home with a silver medal to their name and given their less than ideal build up to the Games, it is a remarkable achievement.While they were comfortably beaten in the final, the margin of defeat should not detract from what had gone before. Fiji would have beaten a world sevens dream team with that sort of performance.Heading into the Olympic Games Great Britain were an unknown quantity with form and logic weighing against their favour, yet here in Rio they found an inner belief forged from squad unity and a game plan built on sheer bloody-mindedness.The players only had four tournaments together before the Games after a World Rugby Sevens Series competing under the separate flags of England, Wales and Scotland.After meeting in May as a squad of 25, this was then whittled down to a squad featuring eight players from England, two from Wales and two from Scotland. It was a party drawing on the best resources available to coach Simon Amor and he deserves huge credit for the work done on the training pitch to bring this silver-medal charge together.I am so proud of my boys, Amor said. They gave so much, every single time, and unfortunately the last game was just one too many, but I have never seen a team play with such heart and fight.It has been amazing. We always knew we would have 10 weeks to make this work, and we had a lot of rugby in the build-up. It has been an interesting journey. We knew we had talent, and the team spirit was extraordinary.Unlike New Zealand, who had Sonny Bill Williams in their squad, and South Africa, who had a long look at Bryan Habana but eventually decided against bringing him to Rio, Great Britain did not have the scope to call on players like George North or Christian Wade. Scotlands Mark Bennett was the only capped 15s international in their squad and there was a feeling this would cost them.But instead they laughed in the face of the doubters. Before the start of the tournament USA coach Mike Friday said GBs point of difference was their guile and in captain Tom Mitchell they had one of the players of the tournament. The sweeper kept the whole squad ticking over, popping up at key moments to unleash quicker players, such as Dan Norton or Marcus Watson.Mitchell is a hugely impressive individual but around him were a group who had been thrown together, in the best sense of the phrase, to win a medal. Cross-nationality friendships were forged -- James Davies and Ollie Lindsay-Hague dubbed themselves the cub and the swan. That unity translated into performances on the pitch.After beating Kenya and Japan, they put in their best half of rugby across the three days by running up a 21-0 lead over New Zealand at halftime. They eventually won by a couple of points but then came their quarterfinal against Argentina which was locked at 0-0 at full time. After a Mitchell penalty sailed wide in extra time, Dan Bibbys try, in the fourth minute of added on time, eventually booked their place in the final four. They didnt lose focus.Against South Africa they were forced to work on a gameplan marrying resolute defence and counter-attacking rugby with Nortons try one of the best youll see. They dug in resolutely at the end to win 7-5. It was emblematic of the feeling within the group.In the final they came unstuck but Ben Ryans side put together, by his own admission, their best performance since he took the job almost three years ago. No team could have handled them but as Great Britain stood on the podium, they were united.We showed a never-say-die attitude, said Davies. We have shown it in so many games.It just sums us up as a group of players: just grinding out those wins. A team that doesnt play very well but puts in those wins is a sign of a great team. Look at these 12 [players] and that is a great team.It bodes well for this group. Itd be wonderful to see a composite Team GB team compete on the World Series next year but that is one for the various powers that be.Tonight they will feel that small pang of sadness at having lost the final but can feel hugely proud of everything they have achieved.Everyone has worked so hard, and it has been an amazing journey. It is a nice little way to finish it with a silver medal, Mitchell said. There were those who thought we wouldnt do so well out here, and we knew we had to come here and scrap. We knew it was about working hard.The silver medal is just reward for their remarkable effort. Boston Celtics Gear .B. - Sebastien Auger made 44 saves as the Saint John Sea Dogs edged the visiting Acadie-Bathurst Titan 2-1 on Saturday in Quebec Major Junior Hockey League action. 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Outside of the pool, swimmer Fran Halsall admits to showing off, dancing at every opportunity, listening to 70s rock and taking her hairy hound Blu to important meetings.In the coming weeks, that 70 per cent will rise for the GB star who has qualified for her third Olympics and was recently Queen of the European Championships, winning five medals, including three gold. But dont think the fun will completely cease in Brazil. The Southport-born 26-year-old opens up about her character in and out of the water, how the pain of missing out on a medal at London 2012 is driving her on and how being Sky Academy Sports Scholar boosted her.If I had to sum myself up, Id say confident, smiley and resilient. Im Xena: Warrior Princess!Its just that I can be a bit of a diva when I want to be. My coach would suggest I like to be the centre of attention - or a show off!If there was karaoke on Id be the one dancing. I love music - from Deep Purple to Taylor Swift. It depends on what mood Im. I like to listen to gangsta rap before I race. I wont be the one with my head down and headphones on, Ill be the one singing trying to get everybody to sing along with me!What Ive learnt in over 10 years on the British team is that being resilient is a very important part of being an athlete. Halsall (second right) and current Scholar Siobhan-Marie OConnor (right) enjoyed relay glory at the Euros Its how you deal with the poor performances and not meeting targets and turning it into a positive. Not achieving hurts but its the analysing what you did right and what you did wrong. The quicker you understand that the better it will be for you to move forward in your career.That was the main thing that followed London 2012. That was hard and every athletes dream is to win an Olympic medal so it took time to deal with that. Now Im just excited to be going to another Olympics. The London Games was an amazing experience in front of a home crowd and watching everybody else in Team GB in all the other sports. But I missed a medal by 0.08 seconds in the 50m freestyle.So London was a bitter / sweet experience for me. My race I just didnt get right and I was very disappointed. I took two months off after the Olympics and reassessed everything.I got a new coach and a new programme and set myself new targets and became more focused on the 50 rather than the 100. I won a bronze at the World Championships in Barcelona so that was a nice year after London. Xena: Warrior Princess is probably pretty handy in the pool as well It was all about taking some of the pressure off and enjoying it again. I was delighted with that.Being on the Scholarship scheme in the build-up to the 2012 Games was amazing for me though. Even after London I came back to Sky Sports and did work experience.Im interested in the media and what happens behind the scenes so I learnt loads of things like how to build and develop a story. I met some of the presenters and looked at all these things thinking aboout what I could do after my swimming career.dddddddddddd.The link with Sky and getting access to that has been brilliant.Seeing my big face on the billboards was interesting! Luckily I had goggles on so you couldnt tell it was me so much!One of the other Scholars Liam Tancock trains in my squad and Ive got a great relationship with him. Its been amazing sharing experiences and talking about preparations and getting an insight to other athletes and what they go through. Thats all been fantastic. Fran secured five medals at the European Championships in London The last few weeks in the pool have been great. I did really well at the Europeans and I got through the Rio trials which is actually tougher than the Olympics.Its all about qualifying and I did! It was a good week. After January I put in plenty of work and hopefully that should stand me in good stead for this Olympic cycle.Its the 11th time Ive won at a British Championships and so its like a time trial rather than an actual race. I find it hard to get myself up for it and motivated.You think about a World Championship or Commonwealth Games when all the best swimmers are there and the atmosphere is electric. In a race like a 50m sprint that helps. You get the extra adrenaline and atmosphere builds.At a trials there are few people watching like its just mum and dad in the stands! I find that difficult. Im just so pleased I was able to put in a world class performance.Most of us didnt know we had made the Rio squad until a week after. For London it was announced there and then and there was a parade which was nice but it was good getting all emotional telling my parents Id made Rio on the phone. Fran and her trusty four-legged friend Blu Im very excited about the Olympics but I dont want to get too excited too soon! I want to build it up nicely. Now weve had the Euros it starts to get tense with a big block of work. I just want to make sure my skills are right and my fitness is good.Im not thinking about Olympic medals or anything like that. Its just about getting from A to B. Having said that, if I got on the podium there would be some Prosecco and Id be with my boyfriend, parents and my dog.My dog is a sproodle - a cross between an English Springer Spaniel and Poodle. Hes crazy as anything but hes so cute. He comes everywhere with me - he even came to Glasgow for the trials.He also goes into the changing rooms at the rugby with my boyfriend [St Helens rugby league captain Jon Wilkin]. Hell also have a haircut with me at the same time and I take him to meetings with solicitors - hes more of a rock star than me. WHATS COMING UP FOR OUR SCHOLARS27 MAY: Lucy Garner, Boels Hills Classic29 MAY: Lucy Garner, Gooik10-16 JUNE: IPC Athletics European Championships in Grosseto, Italy23-26 JUNE: Lucy Garner, National Road Cycling Championships in Stockton-on-Tees Also See: About the Scholarship Meet the athletes Blogs Videos Galleries ' ' '