Sonny Bill Williams has been ruled out of the rest of New Zealand sevens’ Rio Olympics campaign after sustaining a partial Achilles rupture, leaving his participation in the Rugby Championship in doubt.
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The opening pool match upset was an echo of Japan’s famous victory over South Africa in the 15-a-side World Cup in Brighton, the biggest shock the sport has ever seen.
New Zealand lost Sonny Bill Williams through injury in the first game.
While it should still progress to the next stage, this result and the absence of Williams will give opponents plenty of encouragement.
Akira Ioane powered through some poor defence to give New Zealand a 12-7 lead not long after but the usually clinical team in black couldn’t close out, and conceded a late try to Komeli Soejima which Katsuyuki Sakai converted for the win.
‘It’s unbelievable, ‘ reflected Japan back Lomano Lemeki. I am still shocked, to be honest.
While New Zealand coach Gordon Tietjens said Williams was understandably “shattered”, the king of the offload himself typically took to Twitter.
Williams, twice a World Cup victor in the 15-man game, suffered the injury to his left ankle while carrying the ball into a tackle two minutes into the second half and immediately indicated to the bench that he needed help.
France kicked off the tournament with a surprising 31-14 win over error-prone Australia – the morning after a celebratory night for Australians after their women’s team beat New Zealand to win the first rugby sevens gold medal at an Olympics.
“It’s great for us to come here”.
Britain’s men made it two wins from two by beating Japan 21-19 in a thriller in their second match.
Great Britain remained unscathed as shocks and drama unfolded all around them on a spectacular opening day of the men’s rugby sevens tournament at Deodoro Stadium.
“We thought if we kept moving the ball around, the big guys would tire somewhere, and they eventually did”.
It had been anticipated that Williams would make a return to the All Blacks’ 12 shirt in the coming months, but Hansen will now plan to beat Ireland twice in November without the superstar.
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“I think the Japanese boys started to smile a little bit because they wouldn’t have to tackle him!” Kenya are a great team so it is great to get that out of the way but we want to keep building with every game.
