And in even worse news for the New Zealand side, star player Sonny Bill Williams was forced off the pitch with an ankle injury two minutes into the second half – and was subsequently ruled out of the tournament.
Advertisement
“He suffered a partial Achilles rupture of the left Achilles tendon”, read a statement.
That’s the belief of New Zealand coach Sean Horan in the wake of his team’s silver medal-winning performance at the Rio Olympics.
Akira Ioane put the All Blacks ahead but Kameli Soejima’s late try levelled the score before Katsuyuki Sakai’s conversion clinched victory. It was the second try of the tournament for Ebner, a safety for the New England Patriots who is taking a leave from offseason football workouts to compete at the Olympics.
Australia won the first rugby Olympic gold medal in 92 years.
But they bounced back to remain in the mix for a place in the last eight with a 28-5 win over Kenya, the second straight defeat for the Africans, who opened with a 31-7 loss to Britain. Woodman’s yellow card saw the Australians score two more through Evania Pelite and Ellia Green to all but end the contest.
Argentina edged the United States 17-14 in the other Pool A game.
Two- time reigning Olympic champion Kristin Armstrong of the United States and New Zealand’s world champion Linda Villumsen will also roll off the start ramp with gold medals in mind.
“To get through that one, and to know tomorrow we’ll be playing for a medal regardless of the outcome of our first game is pretty fantastic”, Caslick said.
Japan produced the biggest upset ever at the Rugby World Cup with a win over South Africa in the group stage a year ago in the marquee tournament in the 15-a-side game.
Gold-medal contender New Zealand was expected to easily account for Japan, but went behind quickly when Teruya Goto dived over in the left corner and Lomano Lemeki converted from out wide. “It’s still pretty unbelievable, and I am just shocked”.
Australia’s men’s team, the Wallabies, have struggled against New Zealand’s famous All Blacks for more than a decade in the traditional 15-a-side game.
Canada had gone 2-1 in preliminary round play with wins over Japan (45-0) and Brazil (38-0) giving them second in Pool C behind Great Britain.
Advertisement
“We didn’t want to take them out because we thought we’d lose them and by the time we got home we were straight into bed”.
