Olympics: Few surprises on Day One

An important peculiarity of the Olympic sevens is that what is the usual second round of games in the World Series (top seed vs 4th, 2ndseed vs 3rd) came first in Rio. So straight from the off we had some potentially tight games bookended by some more one-sided matches.

Which was, by and large, how the opening round went. The 2ndvs 3rdseed battles began with the opening game whereFrancewho looked good and strong againstSpain,the latter making also a few too many errors. The French would have been delighted with a 24-7 win, Spain rather more concerned by the 17-point loss margin. Such things are really important when it is likely that you will be fighting for a best third spot.

And worth recording for future rugby history books – the first try after a gap of 92 years was scored by France’s Camile Grassineau.

The next 2v3 battle was Great Britain v Brazil, in Pool C. Fourth seed vs ninth, this should have been a more one sided game – but a very nervy GB team made a raft of largely unforced errors that allowed Brazil to camp in their half for most of the opening period. A break by Jo Watmore eventually gave GB the lead, after which they never looked like losing, and over the last third of the game Britain pulled away for a comfortable win. Another plus was that good British defence ensured that Brazil rarely threatened to score (having to resort to a drop goal at the end of the half for their only points), but against stronger opposition a start like they had might have been more serious.

If the opposition had been Fiji, for instance. It was the United States who had to deal with them in their opening game, and it was readily apparent that the switch of fixtures benefited the Pacific Islanders hugely. The result was the best game of the opening round – not one for the connoisseurs perhaps, but it was tight and exciting. Tissolo scored two great tries either side of half time for the seventh seeds, then went off with a hopefully slight injury. Kelter pulled one back, but then on came Tinai to snuff out US hopes with some great defensive tackling, especially at the end when she floored Javalet to finish the game and assure a 12-7 Fijiana win.

The other three games were exhibitions as New Zealand, Canada and Australia breezed past Kenya, Japan and Colombia.

Round one results

Pool A

United States 7-12 FijiAustralia 53-0 Colombia

Pool B

France 24-7 SpainNew Zealand 52-0 Kenya

Pool C

Great Britain 29-3 BrazilCanada 45-0 Japan

The second round was rather more routine, with no surprises or even particularly close matches. France struggled a little in the first half against Kenya, but – as in Clermont – Kenya were unable to keep the performance going and fell away badly in the second period.  Spain then did well to hold a rampant New Zealand to 31-5, before the final four games all ended with Great Britain, Canada, United States and Australia all shutting out Japan, Brazil, Colombia and Fiji.

As a result, five teams – Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Great Britain and France – have all qualified for the last eight. Fiji have to beat Colombia to make sure they join them. The United States have a win which should mean a third place – whether it is a “best” third place we will have to wait and see, but short of a massive lost to New Zealand they should make the last eight. The rest of the tournament all have a theoretical chance of making the quarter-finals.

Round two results

Pool A

United States 48-0 ColombiaAustralia 36-0 Fiji

Pool B

France 40-7 KenyaNew Zealand 31-5 Spain

Pool C

Great Britain 40-0 JapanCanada 38-0 Brazil