Canada plays Australia – the top ranked women’s team here – in the semifinals Monday (1:30 p.m. ET, TSN) while Britain plays New Zealand, with the winners moving on to the evening gold medal round (4:30 p.m., TSN).
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Eduardo Mufarej, president of the Brazilian rugby union, told AFP the host team’s performances had done the country proud, with a re-match against Japan on the cards Monday, the victor of which will be awarded a core team place on the World Series Sevens circuit.
Fiji lost 36-0 to Australia in the last match on Day 1 but is likely to finish with two wins – facing struggling Colombia in its last Pool A match – adding to the pressure on the Americans.
Britain progressed through Pool C and secured a place in the final four by beating Fiji 26-7 in the quarter-finals on Sunday, with Watmore scoring a first-half try.
“I have been to Mexico and many countries in Latin America and Asia who can see they have an opportunity”.
Richardson set the ball rolling with an early score, before Amy Wilson-Hardy touched down with a brilliant solo effort as Britain took charge of the contest. At 14 minutes playing time per game, there are about 129 games a day, with matches coming and going more often than trains on the Toronto subway.
“They are world class, but so are we”.
Team GB then turned on the style just prior to half-time, scoring a pair of quickfire tries to take control of the match. But there was an upset of sorts when in their first game Fiji beat the United States of America 12-7 to the delight of the neutrals in the stands.
The biggest cheer, though, was reserved for Celestine Masinde when she scored Kenya’s first Olympic try in the first half.
But the New Zealanders kept their nerve to scrape through. Tylia Nathan-Wong was yellow carded and sent from the field, but the New Zealanders survived unscathed. “Now it’s at the Olympics it’s incredible and actually building women’s rugby”, – New Zealand’s Sarah Goss on facing the more unfancied teams on Saturday. “She just goes out and plays like the rest of us”.
“To hang onto the other guy’s shorts and push forward as hard as you can while someone tries to kick the ball back”, she said.
“It (a possible medal) is what we’ve dreamed of during the past two years, and that is what we have come here to do”.
“It probably hurts right now because they’re out of medal contention, but still we have something to fight for”, Walker said. The bronze medal match – for the losers of the semi-finals – is at 10.30pm. They have already learned female rugby players are seen as smart, confident, and courageous, but elders are anxious about the safety and well-being of girls.
Beaumont told reporters it is critical having women playing at these Olympics as well as the men.
Canada holds a 9-2 record all-time on the World Series against France, outscoring them 212-63.
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The French earlier also claimed a small footnote in the history books when they beat Spain 24-7 in the first Olympic rugby action since the United States won gold in the men’s 15-aside game at the 1924 Paris Games.
