The other team in Australia’s Pool A group is the USA. They’ll be looking to prove they are back on form in Rio.
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“He was a huge player in the team which ensured the sport came into the Olympics”, Gosper said. “We’ve beaten them before”.
The Australians won three of the five stops on the world series circuit this year, toppling New Zealand from the top of the women’s rugby standings. Canada and England were equal on points in third place. “The object is to grow the game through sevens and not compete”. The world series champions are favourites in the men’s competition, and expectations are high in the Pacific.
Rugby sevens makes its Games debut with women’s teams from trans-Tasman rivals Australia and New Zealand fancied to battle it out with Canada and Britain for gold.
“Think there was a bit of nerves, you saw there was a bit of a fumble there”, she said.
At 5-foot-6 and 143 pounds, Carlyle doesn’t have the size of some of her teammates or opponents but, coaches have said, brings a strong frame, good speed and willingness to enter the fray.
Team GB have been playing together since October, playing in invitational and training tournaments around the globe this year in preparation for the historic moment.
“For us for the season, it was important to finish either first or second”, added Powell.
Griffin: One of the great things about women’s rugby right now is that the game has elevated so much that every game is going to be a tough game. Tries are far more frequent, rendering the game more exciting to new fans. One-off tournaments are different. 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.
“A star team will always beat a team of stars”.
That, he says, will help keep his players protected from the media maelstrom that will surround their adventures in Rio – a frenzy that made itself felt nearly as soon as the buildup to the Olympics began. “That’s why I’m thankful I sat down with Tich at the start of the year and we sussed out a plan to put me forward for the whole year to try to crack it”.
The most scientific and comprehensive pre-event programme ever operated in the sport, the programme captured all Olympic players from qualified nations as well as players from teams still in the qualification hunt during that period.
Captain Sharni Williams had her heart set on playing hockey for Australia at the Olympics when she was a young girl growing up in Canberra. That’s the highest goal in any sport that you will get.
Ryan Carlyle had the scrapes, grass stains and sweat-drenched skin that were clear evidence she had just played rugby Saturday night at Deodoro Stadium. “I still use things that I learnt in my first and second year of undergraduate study on an nearly daily basis – they’re some of my key values”. “I’ve just trained my butt off and now that I’m here I just want to be successful”.
“When I went home a couple of weeks ago to my parents’ house they had the GB flags and the Welsh flags all around the house”. I need to give myself the opportunity to make this because it’s massive. “Unlike cricket, which has failed to break out of its colonial confines, rugby is about to go truly global”, says Simon Chadwick, professor of sports enterprise at the University of Salford.
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“Hayne just needed time”.
