The top-ranked Australians beat New Zealand 24-17 to win the first ever Olympic gold medal.
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For now, we can all bask in the glory of our Australian Women Sevens team being crowned World Champions and World Olympic Champion. The men’s sevens team failed to qualify for the Games and the 15-man team is ranked 18th in the world, compared to No. 2 to the women.
The exposure women’s rugby sevens has gained from being a part of the Olympic program in Rio is only expected to accelerate this popularity.
In response to Jenkins’ comments, Contiki reached out to the rugby sevens star on Twitter and offered him and the rest of Australia’s Olympic team to come on a tour of Vietnam following the games, to which Jenkins accepted.
Woodman said she was left “disappointed with my own game, not that of my team”. “I might consider participating in Tokyo 2020”, Figueroa said.
Emma Tonegato scored Australia’s first try.
As her team gobbled up a loose ball and surged towards Great Britain’s goal line yet again, the 28-year-old Edmontonian gave up her body to make a pass.
“Sevens is a brutal game and you have to perform for those 20 minutes”.
It was centralised in Sydney in 2014 and this played a key role in Australia’s Olympic victory and the claiming of the world series crown.
Parry, one of the longest-serving members of Australia’s squad, described winning gold as an “incredible” feeling.
“It’s been a big year for us and I’m looking forward to the following year”.
But it was Kayla McAlister who set the tone for fired-up New Zealand side by making a massive tackle in the first minute to force a turnover, before she showed off her trademark step to score in the corner. Ghislaine Landry led Canada with two tries and four conversions.
Walsh said Horan’s pre-match comments were used as a motivator by his team.
“Mel had a pretty nasty fall on the track today in training but the good news is she’s been scanned and there are no serious fractures”. We came to this tournament wanting a medal, and we’ve come up a little bit short. “He’s not the only one because there’s a lot of teams that take us that way”.
Kish was jumping up and down in the mixed zone interview area, smiling ear to ear, nearly unable to calm herself down, gushing with the pride of accomplishment and still just a little bit hurt by not playing for gold.
“We hurt ourselves with a few other things that we did”. “If we had been able to put that performance in against Australia we would have been playing for the gold medal instead”.
Asked whether he wished he was out on the field, McCaw replied: “Not really, I’m quite enjoying being a spectator to be honest”.
Canada thumped Great Britain 33-10 in the bronze medal match in sevens rugby’s debut at the Olympic Summer Games in Rio.
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The sevens speedster was in top form as NZ smashed Britain to earn a place in the gold medal match with Australia. While the first sevens medal matches in Olympic history attracted a decent crowd engaging in what can loosely be described as “bawdy banter” before, during and after each contest, most games were played out in an arena empty enough to make one yearn for the considerably more boisterous atmosphere of that ugly annual sevens tournament at Twickenham packed with braying imbeciles wearing fancy dress and chugging lager through their own socks. “I’m just happy to be here”, – Yulia Efimova happy enough with silver in the women’s 100m breaststroke. “I know 11 of my other teammates feel that way too”, a beaming captain Jen Kish said.
