Hayne no certainty for Rio after jump from NFL

PARIS (Reuters) - Code-hopper Jarryd Hayne, who made a surprise decision to jump from the NFL to rugby sevens, was no certainty to make Fiji's final squad for the Rio Olympics, the team's coach said on Sunday. The 28-year-old Hayne, who spurned a lucrative contract in rugby league to try to break into the NFL last year, retired from the hugely popular North American sport on Sunday after he said the Fijian rugby sevens side had approached him about playing at Rio. Fiji coach Ben Ryan, however, said there were no guarantees the former Australian rugby league international, who played one season for the San Francisco 49ers, would make his final cut for the Aug. 5-21 Games. "I have no promises he is going to make the 12, but we will see how he goes," Ryan told World Rugby's website. "He will then come into Fijian camp for the Olympic period. "It is a huge challenge for Jarryd but if he gets into the squad it is only going to be on form, because he is a blinding rugby player. If he doesn't make it, is just shows how good this Fijian sevens side is." Fiji were beaten 29-26 by Samoa in the final of the Paris tournament on the world sevens circuit earlier on Sunday, but still lead the overall standings by 14 points from South Africa (152) and well ahead of third-placed New Zealand (145). Ryan said the Fiji Rugby Union had already checked that Hayne could play for the country at the Olympics. His father Manoa Thompson is Fijian and Hayne holds a Fijian passport. Hayne, who played 176 games for the Parramatta Eels in Australia's National Rugby League competition, will join the Fiji side in London ahead of the final tournament on the circuit this weekend. Ryan intends to name a squad of 24 players for a training camp in Fiji in June before narrowing the selection to his final 12 and said he was arguably the luckiest coach in world sevens. "I think any coach would say they'd happily take my job," Ryan said. "It is a no lose situation for me. It is no lose for Jarryd. "He comes in with an A* but it is up to him to hang onto that, it's really exciting and really what the Olympics is all about." (Reporting by Greg Stutchbury in Wellington; Editing by Pritha Sarkar)