The linchpin of Australia’s women’s rugby sevens team will have mum’s name, Yolanta, written on her wrist during each contest at the Rio Games. The final is set for Monday, and the men’s tournament runs for the following three days. The best two in each group (as well as two third-place teams) will advance to the knockout stages.
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Last summer, Kish captained Canada to gold in the rugby sevens tournament at the Pan Am Games in Toronto.
“We’ve played in big stadiums before, we’ve deal with the press”, she said.
New Zealand, the 2014-15 sevens series champions and second seeds, are also a formidable team with the powerful and pacey ex-netballer Portia Woodman the top try scorer in the latest series with 24 tries.
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.
But he carefully deflected questions about whether he had plans to do the same if New Zealand were to succeed at Rio.
Williams is part of the New Zealand squad hoping to mark the inaugural rugby sevens competition at the Games by topping the podium after transitioning to the format at the start of the year. “You can’t come up against any team and be complacent”, said Wallaby Chloe Dalton.
Sevens, which uses the same-size pitch as the 15-man game and requires enormous levels of fitness and skill, will have its own ready-made star in Rio in the shape of All Blacks back Sonny Bill Williams. “When we went back home, our normal three-hour trip from the airport took us about 10 hours”. They are in Pool B of the women’s competition with New Zealand, France and Spain.
“I had a lot of posters of Olympian sprinters like Carmelita Jeter, Usain Bolt up in my room so it was something that I was going to hopefully one day achieve”.
Speaking to Loughborough University, Ryan says winning Fiji’s first gold medal in the Olympics will definitely be special for everyone in Fiji.
Fiji, who have won the last two world sevens series, are favourites to top Pool A, while a New Zealand side featuring twice 15-man World Cup victor Sonny Bill Williams will be expected to do the same in Pool C.
“I live in a little city and they’re all cheering for me and wishing me good luck, giving me cards”.
First things first. The Canadians have a battle to top Pool C, which also contains Britain, host Brazil and Japan.
Welsh members of the GB Sevens men and women squad (L-R) Gareth Williams (mens assistant coach), Luke Treharne (travelling reserve), James Davies, Jasmine Joyce, Sam Cross and Richie Pugh (women assistant coach) at Trafalgar Square, London.
The England Women’s rugby sevens team have bared all ahead of Rio 2016 to celebrate the diversity of body types.
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“(But) it has really prepared us going into these Games. “We’ve been through high pressure situations and through the long campaigns in terms of still peaking at the end”.
