Ferns retain Olympic title

Unprecedented crowds filled the Stade de France in Paris over three days for the third edition of the Olympic Sevens. Aided by clever timing, with no other major events in central, and perfect weather saw 66,000 spectators on Day 1, a peak of 68,000 on Day 2 and a reported 69,000 for the finals on Day 3.

They witnessed a perfect advertisement for women’s sevens from start to finish, with close games and surprise results.

The very first game saw Great Britain defy their seeding to beat Ireland, and Canada do the same against Fiji – who were to have a very disappointing tournament after their bronze in Tokyo.

Early crowd pleasers were China. Vastly improved from the previous games the Chinese comfortably beat Fiji and did enough overall to make the quarter-finals, pushing the young Canadian team hard in their crucial final pool game. But New Zealand were comfortable winners of Pool A, never being seriously troubled.

Australia, the other favourites, won Pool B despite a fright from Ireland in their final game, the Irish having recovered from their loss to Great Britain to make the last eight.

Pool C saw France and USA comfortably through.

The quarter-finals were bookended by big wins for New Zealand and Australia, but the middle two games were nailbiting classics with the USA outmuscling Great Britain before Canada silenced the huge crowd by beating France.

In the first semi-final New Zealand extended their winning streak against USA to 11 matches, a run dating back to October 2019 to book their place in the final with a convincing second-half performance, after a sluggish start saw them fall behind early on.

Kelter’s powerful run, step and fend got USA off to a perfect start, while their organised and determined defence kept New Zealand at bay in the early exchanges.

But Stacey Waaka raced in to get the defending champions on the board after five minutes, and scored another early in the second half. Then Michaela Blyde showed pace, balance and power twice in the second half to score her eighth and ninth tries of the competition before Kristi Kirshe got a late consolation for USA.

Canada then tore up the semi-final script and pulled off the shock of the tournament in front of  another packed and passionate crowd to make it back-to-back wins over hot favourites Australia as temperatures soared in Paris.

Australia had cruised through the tournament to date, and started brightly against a side they had beaten six times in the past seven meetings coming into the semi-finals.

Levi scored her 12th try of Paris 2024, and Sariah Paki crossed to send the 2016 champions into a 12-0 lead in four minutes. But a 75m individual tap-and-go try from Charity Williams moments before the break restored Canadian confidence.

And it was all red in the second half, as Australia shipped too many penalties. Asia Hogan-Rochester finished off a messy move early in the second half, before Piper Logan held off Teagan Levi to score the crucial try a minute from time.

A few hours later and Australia were shocked again in the bronze final when USA won their first ever sevens medal.

USA’s Alex Sedrick raced from under her own posts with the clock in the red to score the decisive length-of-the-pitch try in the dying seconds of a dramatic match to claim bronze.

Maddison Levi had earlier added two more tries – one in each half – to her Paris 2024 tally, drawing level with Portia Woodman-Wickliffe’s overall Olympic record, as Australia looked set to put the heartbreak of their semi-final defeat against Canada behind them.

Alev Kelter had kept USA in the hunt with a powerful run-in from close range, and Kayla Canett could have put them ahead but for a desperate try-saving tackle from Faith Nathan.

An increasingly frustrated Australia struggled to break down determined USA defence in the second half, until the younger Levi took matters into her own hands, racing deep into USA’s 22 before offloading to her older sister to score with 13 minutes on the clock. It looked to be enough for bronze, until Sedrick’s 90m intervention.

New Zealand then claimed gold in an enthralling final in front of another passionate full house at Stade de France.

The defending champions got off to the fastest start, with co-captain Risi Pouri-Lane cutting inside and running 50m to score under the posts.

Much of the early action was deep in Canadian territory, as ferocious New Zealand defence kept them pinned on their line, until Portia Woodman-Wickliffe was yellow-carded for a high tackle.

The player advantage allowed Canada to work their way out of their half – and Chloe Daniels took full advantage, bursting clear to level the scores. And, with Woodman-Wickliffe just back on the pitch, Alysha Corrigan collected a loose New Zealand pass to take gutsy Canada into the lead at the break.

It didn’t last long. Michaela Blyde found a route through three defenders to the line after a quick tap from Jorja Miller to give New Zealand a two-point advantage.

Sarah Hirini, who came straight into the defending champions’ squad for the Olympics 28 weeks after suffering a serious knee injury at the opening SVNS series tournament in Dubai, then broke clear and fed Stacey Waaka, who extended the lead to seven, at the end of an incredibly competitive encounter.

Results

Pool A: Fiji 14-17 Canada; New Zealand 43-5 China; Fiji 12-40 China; New Zealand 33-7 Canada; Canada 26-17 China; New Zealand 38-7 Fiji

Pool B: Ireland 12-21 Great Britain; Australia 34-5 South Africa; Ireland 38-0 South Africa; Australia 36-5 Great Britain; Great Britain 26-17 South Africa; Australia 19-14 Ireland

Pool C: United States 36-7 Japan; France 26-0 Brazil; United States 24-5 Brazil; France 49-0 Japan; Japan 39-12 Brazil; France 31-14 United States

9th-12th Place Semi-Finals: Japan 15-12 South Africa; Fiji 22-28 Brazil

Quarter-Finals: New Zealand 55-5 China; Great Britain 7-17 United States; France 14-19 Canada; Australia 40-7 Ireland

5th-8th Place Semi Finals: China 19-15 Great Britain; France 19-7 Ireland

Semi-Finals; New Zealand 24-12 United States; Canada 21-12 Australia

11th Place: South Africa 21-15 Fiji

9th Place: Japan 38-7 Brazil

7th Place: Great Britain 28-12 Ireland

5th Place: China 7-21 France

Bronze final: United States 14-12 Australia

Gold Final: New Zealand 19-12 Canada