In the Olympic debut for both teams, Fiji edged the Americans 12-7 on the first day of the Rio de Janeiro games.
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The No. 1 team in the world rugby sevens series standings, Australia opened the scoring with a try at 3:42 in the first half for a 5-0 score that stood through halftime.
The Fiji women’s 7s team had thrashed Colombia 36-0 in their final pool match early this morning.
Fiji responded well though, and Chris Cracknell’s side became the first to score a try this week against Great Britain, when Litia Naiqato powered through a challenge close to the line to dot down under the sticks.
They will face New Zealand for a place in the final, where the victor will play either Australia or Canada who contest the other semi on Monday.
“But it’s not what we’re thinking about in the moment”, she said.
Paris 2024 Olympic bid leader Bernard Lapasset, Beaumont’s predecessor as head of the global game and tireless campaigner for the inclusion of rugby sevens in the Games, told AFP he was thrilled.
To the members of Team USA, all that matters is that they are playing under the Olympic banner.
“It’s exciting to see someone you know make such an impact on a sport and even though we’ll all be at our national festival, we’ll be following along as best we can and cheering her on throughout her journey and hopefully to a gold medal result”, said Decker.
Initially a sparse crowd of barely 1,000 had entered the Deodoro Stadium, but that quickly changed under the watchful eyes of International Olympic Committee president Thomas Bach, World Rugby president Bill Beaumont and guest Sachin Tendulkar, the Indian cricket superstar lobbying for his sport’s inclusion at the 2024 Games.
The end of pool play saw the favourites all progress to quarter-final stage, with the Team GB’s 22-0 triumph over Canada in their final group fixture the standout performance of the round.
“Our dream is getting more real”, said captain Jen Kish.
“She was a gifted athlete and a tenacious competitor and we’re just extremely excited for her”, said Bozek.
Australia’s win over Fiji meant they topped Pool A while New Zealand showed ominous form in Pool B with a 52-0 thumping of Kenya and a 31-5 victory over Spain.
France scored in the opening minutes and the Canadians seemed to be just a step off their best game, again. “A win’s a win, 5-0, 2-0, we’ll take it”.
Australia coach Tim Walsh said the Americans gave his team “the kick up the trousers that we needed going into the quarterfinals”, where Charlotte Caslick scored twice and Tonegato added another to each increase their tournament tallies to six, equal with Woodman. Ellia Green scored a try for Australia in her return to the pitch.
The Australians will face Canada, after they fought back to beat an ever-improving French side.
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The victor of that match advances to the gold medal game, while the loser will play for bronze.
