New Zealand, USA, Canada and Australia are left chasing Olympic gold after a sensational day of women’s rugby sevens witnessed by more than 120,000 fans at Stade de France.
The best women’s rugby sevens players in the world dazzled more than 120,000 fans inside Stade de France across two competition sessions with their outstanding talent and athleticism as the Paris 2024 Olympic semi-final line-up was defined following an enthralling day of sevens action.
New Zealand will face USA, while Canada meet Australia in the semi-finals on Tuesday afternoon following a thrilling set of quarter-finals that resulted in heartbreak for hosts France.
Four New Zealand players scored twice as they beat China 55-5 to set a new points record for a women’s rugby sevens match at an Olympic Games, beating the 53 Australia had scored against Colombia at Rio 2016.
That record win set up a semi-final meeting with USA, who came back after conceding an early try to beat Great Britain 17-7 in an intensely competitive quarter-final.
Meanwhile, Canada broke French hearts with a 19-14 victory in a hugely physical encounter, and Maddison Levi scored a hattrick to take her Paris 2024 tally to 11 and break Portia Woodman-Wickliffe’s long-standing individual Olympic tournament try record as Australia convincingly beat Ireland 40-7 to make up the final four.
On breaking the record Levi said: “Record try scorer sounds pretty good but Olympic gold medallist would sound even better so hopefully we’ll get that tomorrow. As I always say I would not be getting these accolades if it wasn’t for the team beside me and they put me in to the space to best utilise my skills.
“I’m always striving to become better, working on little things that can get better every day. I also pride myself on those traits that help me retain the ball for the team, own that restart and make try saving tackles. It’s often defence that wins games and that’s what is going to keep us going through to the gold medal match.”
Earlier in the day France’s Seraphine Okemba scored four tries as Les Bleues beat Brazil to maintain the host nation’s perfect start to the women’s competition, while Australia and New Zealand also completed a clean sweep of their respective pools on the second day of women’s competition at the Olympic Games Paris 2024.
Those results saw New Zealand play China, Great Britain take on USA, France meet Canada and Australia face Ireland in the last eight on Monday evening.
The women’s sevens comes to a climax on Tuesday with finals day beginning at 14:30 local time (GMT+2). The semi-finals kick off from 15:30 and the gold medal match will bring down the curtain on a truly unforgettable Olympic rugby sevens at 19:45.
China will meet Great Britain, while France will face Ireland in Tuesday’s fifth-place semi-finals. Japan will play Brazil for ninth-place, and South Africa will take on Fiji in the 11th-place play-off.
Atlantic Rim
Dirk Nannes has represented both Australia and Netherlands in International Cricket.
Pistol Hydro
The first rugby sevens tournament was held in 1883 in Melrose, Scotland. The shorter, faster version of rugby was created to raise funds for the local club and has since grown into an international sport, making its Olympic debut in 2016.