Having upgraded their fitness, they fine-tuned for the Olympics together with the men’s squad again in Santiago, Chile, where numerous women touched snow for the first time, during a bus trip up the Andes.
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“It was more emotional than technical, but we are here”, World Rugby vice chairman Agustin Pichot told Reuters after watching the first two games.
“It’s exciting for the players to be involved with some of the best sportspeople in the world”, he said.
When well-meaning friends brought Potter board games and puzzles to help pass time in the hospital that were targeted more at children, Potter came up with the idea to walk them over to nearby Children’s Hospital, making the journey while connected to her IV pole.
“Full credit to our girls, to defend our line with six like that was awesome”, said New Zealand’s Kelly Brazier.
With three minutes to play, Kiwi playmaker Tyla Nathan-Wong was yellow carded for cynically taking out American winger Jessica Javelet with the line abegging.
At the 2009 International Ice Hockey Federation Women’s Under-18 World Championship, Kelter led the USA hockey team to a gold medal.
“We took some great (lessons). and grown”.
“To hang onto the other guy’s shorts and push forward as hard as you can while someone tries to kick the ball back”, she said. In April England claimed their first series win of the season in Canada after beating New Zealand in the final. “And it’s exciting – it’s insane how we all ended up on the same spot”.
The Americans will have to settle for playing in classification matches for fifth-eighth places along with the other quarterfinal losers. “We have Super Rugby and the under-20s which is used as pathway also to go on to become an All Black, sevens is becoming a specialised sport”, he said. “We want to finish No. 5”. They have already learned female rugby players are seen as smart, confident, and fearless, but elders are anxious about the safety and well-being of girls.
“That was a great setup that really led me to refereeing”.
Australia coach Tim Walsh said the Americans gave his team “the kick up the trousers that we needed going into the quarterfinals”, where Charlotte Caslick scored twice and Tonegato added another to each increase their tournament tallies to six, equal with Woodman. Emma Tonegato reached over to score in the last minute to cut the margin to two points, leaving Chloe Dalton needing to kick the conversion to avoid the loss. The British won all three group games comfortably, including a 24-0 victory over Canada, and outscored Fiji four tries to one.
Canada faces Britain on Sunday and the quarter-finals are Sunday afternoon, while the medal games go Monday.
New Zealand coach Sean Horan said having rugby sevens on the Olympic program had a dramatic impact on the development of the global game, particularly for women.
“This is where we’ve always aimed to be and we’ve got to be thinking about getting to the final”.
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Looking ahead to tomorrow’s clash with Canada, Caslick added: “I think every team that is playing for medals tomorrow will step to the next level so we have to as well”.
