Rugby Sevens, Women

Ten of the twelve teams who took part in 2016 also qualified for the Tokyo tournament now extended to three days instead of two as in Rio. The exceptions were China and Russia who replaced Colombia and Spain.

New Zealand arrived in Japan as clear favourites as they had won the most recent World Championship and were winners of more than half the tournaments on the World Rugby Sevens tour since the Rio Olympics. Joining them as qualifiers from that tour were reigning champions Australia and the North American duo of Canada and the USA. The big surprise of the pool stages was the elimination of the Canadians who fell behind to early scores against both France and Fiji and could not recover their deficit in either game. Both victorious teams continued to make an impression in the knockout stages. Fiji’s women, long in the shadow of their men’s team, emerged as a major force by beating the 2016 champions, Australia, after surviving a late game onslaught by the Wallabies to win 14-12.

The semi-finals produced an all-Pacific pairing and an all European pairing. Fiji once again excelled to hold New Zealand to a 17 all tie at the end of regulation time. New Zealand gathered possession from the kick-off in sudden-death extra time and the move resulted in Gayle Broughton crossing the try line for the win. The other semi-final was a clash between “old enemies” France and Great Britain. France eased into a 21-12 halftime lead over Great Britain, but Britain fought back to just seven points down when they conceded a penalty as they attempted to force the game into extra time. Fittingly, the star of the game, with two tries, was Anne-Cecile Ciofani, whose parents were both track and field Olympians in the 1980s.

So, the final was played out between New Zealand, who had dominated the world game since Rio, and France, who had only qualified via the final qualifying event. There was to be no fairy-tale ending for the French as New Zealand imposed their superiority when captain Sarah Hirini released Michaela Blyde to score the opening try on the minute mark. France fought back but a couple of moments of indiscipline cost them dearly as New Zealand pulled away to lead 19-5 at half time. The two team traded scores in the second half but this was not enough for the French as they went down by 26-12 at the final whistle.

Fiji continued their excellent tournament by taking the bronze medal with victory over Great Britain. The Fijians, as they had done in several previous matches, blitzed their opponents in the first half of their game before holding on for the win. This was a huge breakthrough for the Pacific island in the women’s game. Fiji also provided the top try scorer in Reapi Ulunisau with eight while Tyla Nathan-Wong of New Zealand shared the title of top points scorer with Ulunisau with the pair level on 40 points.