Former rugby league ace and NFL wannabe Jarryd Hayne misses out on Fiji Olympic sevens selection

Former NFL and rugby league player Jarryd Hayne has missed out on his long-shot dream of playing for Fiji’s rugby sevens side at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics.

Hayne was told on Friday he had not made coach Ben Ryan’s final squad for the August 5-21 Games and is to return to Australia later this week.

Last year, Hayne defied the odds to make the 53-man roster of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, less than a year after quitting Australia’s top-flight rugby league competition.

“I had a meeting with Ben to discuss my future with the team and I was informed that my time has ended,” Hayne, who quit the 49ers in May to pursue the Olympic bid, wrote on his Facebook page. “As much as I would have loved to go to Rio, I too knew I wasn’t ready yet.

“I used all my experience as a professional athlete and have tried everyday and in every way possible to make this team and make it better but unfortunately, time has been against me.”

The son of a Fiji rugby league international, Hayne thumbed his nose at the critics in 2014 when he gave up a stellar career in Australia’s National Rugby League, the sport’s richest competition, for a shot at the NFL.