The sevens world series-winning Australian women extended their streak to five straight wins against 2013 World Cup victor New Zealand, quite a change in fortune in the broader rugby context.
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Japan upset the odds with a thrilling upset over New Zealand in their opening match of the Olympic rugby sevens Tuesday as All Blacks star Sonny Bill Williams sustained a tournament-ending Achilles tendon injury.
Ryan said the result was an example of how dramatic the game of sevens could be.
Fiji downed host country Brazil 40-12 and accounted for Argentina in a bruising encounter, 21-14.
Fiji defied the wet conditions by opening the match with a magnificent move that took them from under their own posts to the New Zealand line in series of charges and handoffs, captain Osea Kolinisau touching down.
But they bounced back to remain in the mix for a place in the last eight with a 28-5 win over Kenya, the second straight defeat for the Africans, who opened with a 31-7 loss to Britain.
Lemeki said the players had been instructed to turn off their phones because they were getting so many messages of support from Japan and their success had also raised their profile in the Athletes Village.
Williams limped off with the injury after he took a crash ball into two defenders early in the second half and had to be assisted off the field.
New Zealand Rugby Union chief executive told Newstalk ZB Radio that Williams would be out of action for six to nine months and selectors would have to find a replacement for the All Blacks squad to play in the Rugby Championship.
The loss comes on the back of a horror day when the men not only lost to Japan, but lost two key players to injury – Sonny Bill Williams and Joe Webber. “Our game plan was to try and stop his offloading”. “You never think you would see a minnow team come here and beat a gold medal contender”.
“There’s no pressure on us, the pressure’s on the big teams, they are the ones supposed to be winning the medals, not us”.
“Knowing the work that these girls have put in to make it that far, the things that they’ve sacrificed, it’s just unreal how hard they’ve had to work to get to that level and I’m just proud of them”, Mackenzie said.
Charlesworth, a hockey great who has worked with a number of sports, claimed the standard of competition wasn’t strong in the wake of Australia’s 24-17 win over New Zealand in the gold medal match in Rio.
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Had it not been for a missed conversion attempt following a last-gasp try against Great Britain, Japan could have finished day one unbeaten.
