He narrated that they have sacrificed a lot to get a spot in playing in Rio, where the sport will make its debut.
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And they’re far from done.
Sonny Bill Williams believes winning an Olympic gold medal in Rio could be the highlight of an already superlative career across several sports.
“So you have 150 million people who had no idea about rugby who are now going to tune into what is an incredibly team-oriented game”.
“I wanted to play a sport in college but I didn’t want to run track”, Doyle said.
Travelling reserve Luke Treharne has not received the nod to replace Alex Davis in the Team GB rugby sevens’ squad. “The secret is out, we’re on the hunt and we’re true medal contenders”.
Great Britain, who competed as England this season, are captained by 2014 World Cup victor Emily Scarratt and include another star from that success in Danielle Waterman.
The inspirational Osea Kolinisau will lead the men’s team, after he has carried the Fiji flag at the opening ceremony for the Olympics. The Australian team said she had passed an initial head-injury assessment, and would undergo another test but expected she’d be cleared for the quarterfinals. We’re like “oh yeah, here we go again”. “We’ve got to perform consistently and be on the top of our game”, said Scarratt, the top points-scorer in that memorable World Cup triumph. “The fitness levels are up where they should be and the knowledge is too”.
“This is the biggest kickstart the game’s ever had, especially for women and girls, and it’s up to clubs, if they are sensible, to realize this is a fantastic opportunity for them to create a new market beyond the traditional Saturday afternoon, 15-a-side rugby club”. So the Olympics turned to sevens, where halves are just seven minutes long. It’s fast and unpredictable.
But Australian journalists were left to wonder what they had done to rile the two-time Rugby World Cup and two-time NRL premiership victor after Williams refused requests to speak with them.
“I became an overall athlete to him”, Doyle said.
Rugby last appeared in the 15-man version of the men’s game at the 1924 Olympics but returns in the shorter sevens format for men and women at the purpose-built Deodoro Stadium in Rio.
Teddy Stanaway has been ruled out of the New Zealand sevens team for Rio, with Lewis Ormond called into the 12, Liam Messam’s been called in to cover.
Williams said he wanted to watch his sister play in the women’s sevens tournament and support other New Zealand athletes, in particular Valerie Adams who is aiming for a third consecutive gold medal.
“It just looked like a whole bunch of contact and not much strategy and they were scared for my life”, Doyle said.
The Olympic bug has certainly caught the imagination of Tietjens, whose side will be battling with the likes of favourites Fiji, South Africa, Australia and Britain for gold.
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Japan’s men’s and women’s teams will both compete in Rio, with the women kicking off their campaign Saturday against Canada and Britain before rounding off the group stage against Brazil on Sunday.
