Her calling simply was not an Olympic event until now, when rugby sevens makes its debut in Rio. The Spanish men had a stunning upset win over world series regulars Samoa in the last-ditch repechage, a victory which playmaker Patricia Garcia said inspired her women’s team to its victory over Russian Federation in Dublin the following week.
Advertisement
“Women’s rugby participation in particular has grown from 10 percent of the (rugby-playing) population to over 30 percent”.
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. The victor and runner-up from each group advance to the quarterfinals, as well as the two best third-place teams.
Last summer, Kish captained Canada to gold in the rugby sevens tournament at the Pan Am Games in Toronto.
“The speed, the tackling and the quality and style of attack are better than they’ve ever been”.
The ramifications of sevens’ inclusion in the Olympics was also not lost on Landry, whose side are ranked third after Australia and the Kiwis.
“If I talk to you after the tournament and we go well, then I can answer that question”.
Or maybe Williams is holding on to a gripe over the way he was treated when he walked out on Canterbury all those years ago? It’s fun, everybody touches the ball and the sky is the limit for what it’s going to mean to us. “The learnings we’ve got from the 2015-16 (world) series would be, we came second to a pretty good Australian team. We are expecting the unexpected”.
Going for gold: Ellia Green.
“That was always a dream of mine since I was five years old”. I had (posters of) a lot of Olympic sprinters like Usain Bolt up in my room.
“Being here, in a Latin country, in South America (where rugby wasn’t very popular), is a great statement”, Pichot said.
Fiji won the two most recent World Rugby Sevens Series titles.
“We’ve now got to win a tournament, to win six games – something we’re entirely capable of doing”, Ryan concludes.
Williams was the main attraction during a well-attended press conference for the New Zealand team and afterwards spoke to various media outlets from around the world.
France will most likely offer New Zealand the sternest test in Group B having performed well over the season, while Kenya and repechage victors Spain up probably battling for a quarter-final spot.
“It is great to see so many young Brazilian people have been introduced to rugby in the build-up to the Olympics and hopefully through the work of the federation they will stay in the game for many years to come and build a lasting legacy”.
Advertisement
The quintet spoke about their insecurities and Waterman said she has learned to love her body over the years.
