Japan shocked New Zealand in a thrilling Olympic rugby sevens match on Tuesday at Deodoro Stadium, winning 14-12 and upsetting one of the top teams in the world in the process.
Advertisement
Williams has partaken in two Rugby World Cups, but it appears that Rio Olympics were a different beast as he nearly completely ruptured his Achilles tendon when he was tackling a Japanese team player.
“He suffered a partial Achilles rupture of the left Achilles tendon”, a statement said.
The result mirrors last autumn’s Rugby World Cup, when a Japan team coached by current England supremo Eddie Jones beat South Africa 34-32 in Brighton.
The Canadian women’s rugby sevens team won the bronze medal on Monday, August 8 at the Rio Olympics beating Great Britain 33-10.
They beat Kenya 31-7 in their first match, with Dan Bibby scoring two tries, A few hours later, they narrowly avoided becoming Japan’s second victims of the day by squeezing out a 21-19 victory.
“I’ll get over it, we got a silver medal, no doubt we are stoked it’s just gut wrenching”, she added.
New Zealand Rugby chief executive Steve Tew is attending the Rio Olympics and confirmed the worst about Williams.
“We’re pretty gutted”, said New Zealand captain Sara Goss.
“It’s unbelievable”, said Japan back Lomano Lemeki.
Charlotte Caslick then nipped over for another converted try to further extend Australia’s lead and although McAlister grabbed her second try, two converted scores for New Zealand in little more than a minute was always going to be a big ask.
Mitchell said: “We like to keep it interesting for the fans”.
“They’re a good team”.
“For that to happen in the first game of the tournament is devastating”. Australia kicked off their Olympic expedition in electrifying fashion crushing Colombia 53-0 in their opening pool match, prior to defeating Fiji 36-0 comfortably in their second match.
The tournament includes the five Australian and New Zealand franchises as well as the Samoan national team and contingents from Toulon, Japan’s Panasonic Wild Knights and South Africa’s Bulls.
“He’s got a great work ethic”, Tietjens said. “In sevens, it’s anybody’s game”.
Danny Barrett exploited the shorthanded situation to score a try and conversion, putting the USA ahead 14-12 with just minutes left to play before Matias Moroni pulled out the 17-12 triumph for Argentina.
Advertisement
Sonny Bill Williams stays down after suffering an ankle injury in the NZ men’s sevens team’s first game of the Rio Olympics.
