Britain narrowly avoided going the same way as New Zealand, who were victims of arguably the greatest shock in sevens history when Japan beat them 14-12, while they also lost World Cup victor Sonny Bill Williams to an Olympics-ending injury.
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Osea Kolinisau and his world champion Fijians face enormous expectations in the Olympic rugby sevens semifinals.
Williams, the highest-profile player in the tournament after winning the 2011 and 2015 Rugby World Cup titles with the All Blacks, carried the ball into a tackle just after halftime and stayed on the ground, holding his left ankle.
Japan, which famously upset South Africa at the 15-a-side Rugby World Cup a year ago, produced an equally unexpected performance in the sevens format with the 14-12 victory Tuesday over 12-time world sevens series champion New Zealand.
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.
Fiji supporters reacts after a try is scored during the men’s rugby sevens match between United States and Fiji at the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Wednesday, Aug. 10, 2016.
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.
Instead, they’ll meet in the quarterfinals after a tumultuous group stage left playoff places hinging on the last group match between world series champion Fiji and the United States. “Sometimes it’s unsafe to set out outcome goals as a coach”.
“We’re number one in the world, we’re not trying to be arrogant, we’re saying this is what we want. Silver will be a disappointment as bronze and fourth place”.
Winners of the last Olympic gold medal awarded in 15-man rugby at the 1924 Paris Games, the United States needed only to avoid defeat by a margin of five points or more to reach the quarter-finals and send sevens powerhouse New Zealand home.
Auckland-born Lomano Lemeki played a pivotal role in Japan’s run to the semifinals, and said he’d probably be the most unpopular Kiwi in the world after playing a part in New Zealand’s early exit. “Hopefully our win against New Zealand will really boost it to another level”. It doesn’t worry him at all, though, given the attention the Japan team is getting for its performance in Rio.
“We’ve got one aim and that’s to win gold medal”, said Fiji’s loquacious coach Ben Ryan.
“New Zealand started to struggle a bit there so we thought if we keep moving the ball around the big guys would tire somewhere and they did”.
Lemeki compared the win in Rio with Japan’s big victory at the 15s World Cup in England past year. Lemeki said that victory helped inspire the team, but he didn’t realize just how much.
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“I thought we’d come here, win a few games, give it a good go”. “So I don’t know what’s happened here”.
