Potter played both games for the Americans on Saturday, wearing the No. 1 jersey and helping the team overcome a 12-7 loss to Fiji with a 48-0 win over Colombia that kept them in contention for the quarterfinals in the women’s rugby sevens tournament.
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It has been a long journey back to the Games for rugby and it has been seven incredible years since the International Olympic Committee voted the sport back on to the programme in 2009.
Australia will face Canada and Great Britain will play New Zealand to determine who will face off in the final later in the day on Monday.
Kelter, who was in the starting lineup in all four of the USA matchups, kicked the restart to the 10 to open the quarterfinal against New Zealand.
It’s an admirably rough, full-on contact sport, played at breakneck speed, with the full Olympic tournament over and done in three days.
The Australian players have been living and training together for more than a year to prepare for it.
The crowd again willed them on in their evening tie but the Pacific Islanders presented few problems for a formidable Australia while the U.S. got back on track by mercilessly taking apart the hapless Colombians 48-0, provoking the odd boo as they ran in their last try. “It sounds obvious, but the closer they are to the players, the better the atmosphere”, said Gosper.
Their replacements, Kenya, were thrashed by New Zealand (52-0) and later France (40-7).
Now that the time has arrived, the New Zealanders aren’t backing away from that.
The final group matches between the already qualified seeds on Sunday should add more intrigue while the medal games on Monday will hopefully see more fans joining the enthusiastic band on hand to witness rugby’s Olympic return.
“We’ve created something brand new”.
“I think for the growth of the women’s game, sevens provides one of the greatest opportunities that we have”, said Irishman Mark Egan, World Rugby’s head of competitions and performance.
“To get through that one, and to know tomorrow we’ll be playing for a medal regardless of the outcome of our first game is pretty wonderful”, Caslick said.
“We took it as a lesson and a wake-up call”, said Ashley Steacy.
UNSTOPPABLE: Jillion Potter of the United States missed the 2010 World Cup because of a serious neck injury, and had to sit out the 2014-15 women’s sevens world series after being diagnosed with cancer and needing eight months of treatment.
Landry acts, along with Kish and forward Karen Paquin, as the bedrock of the Canadian side, and she had delivered on Saturday. “This is the Olympics: every game’s a final and France is our next one which will be tough”. There are seven players per team, and they have to cover the same field, which leaves pastures of grass open, putting an emphasis on speed.
The last time rugby was part of the Summer Games was in 1924, when the United States men won a gold medal in the 15-a-side version of the sport.
“Any rugby day”, Johnson said, “is a good day”. The gold medal game that year “was marred by a pitch invasion at the end with police having to protect the visitors and provide security at the medal ceremony”.
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After thumping Japan 45-0 and Brazil 38-0, the Canadians got a reality check Sunday morning in the form of a Britain.
