Aussies score late for draw with US, both advance in Rio

She was recruited to play Rugby by Eastern Illinois University her junior year of high school.

Growth has already been massive since the International Olympic Committee voted 81-8 to approve rugby for the 2016 and 2020 Games.

“It has been an awesome 12 months for Ruaridh who has played in all but one of the tournaments in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series this year”.

At a USA women’s practice, three offensive players sprinted toward three defenders.

Earlier, in sweltering 90-degree heat and bright sunshine, the USA lost 12-7 to Fiji to open Olympic play.

A turnover from a big tackle saw Timaima Ravisa sprint clear for 12-0. “It truly is an honor”, she said, pausing.

On Sunday, Carlyle and the US hope to really create a ruckus.

The final group matches between the already qualified seeds on Sunday should add more intrigue while the medal games on Monday will hopefully see more fans joining the enthusiastic band on hand to witness rugby’s Olympic return.

Their win over Colombia came with a big 53-0 margin, and their win over Fiji finished with a scoreline of 36-0.

“We’ve been trying to normalize it as much as possible, and make it like any other tournament”, said Ashley Steacy. “We’ve beaten them before”.

“It was really nice to get my legs under me and be back with the team, had a first kickoff and just chased it right down, right to gameplan”, Steacy said.

Brian Hightower, a former Eagles player and the NBC analyst for rugby, said the sport “is perfectly tailored for the Olympics”.

Fiji, who have won the last two world sevens series, are favourites to top Pool A, while a New Zealand side featuring twice 15-man World Cup victor Sonny Bill Williams will be expected to do the same in Pool C.

“Today has been the most normal day”, she said. But it’s the same grass field, the same ball I’ve been playing with for the past four years.

“I can see massive growth for sevens and many years down the line we can look back at 2016 as the turning point for rugby sevens”. “It’s fun just to be on the field with them”. Scarratt said that had given the side confidence before their pre-Games training camp in France and then flying to the Team GB holding camp in Belo Horizonte. He is here as a travelling reserve and can cover a number of positions. Carlyle had entered the game for the first time with 3:16 left.

Yet for now it’s down to the teams involved to sell the simplified, streamlined sevens version of the game to an unfamiliar audience. The Women’s Rugby Sevens got underway at Deodoro Stadium early in the day and afforded storylines aplenty.

She starred in soccer, basketball, indoor track and softball at Clarkstown South, and was also a competitive body builder. Ryan Carlyle played softball at the University of SC and was a competitive bodybuilder.

But back home, they got fitter and better by combining their camp with the men’s team, victor of the last two world series.

World sevens series champion Australia rebounded from a surprising 12-12 draw with the United States in the last game of the pool stage to trounce Spain 24-0 and set up a semifinal match against Canada, which rallied to beat France 15-5 in the quarterfinals after dropping its last pool match to Britain.

Pichot knows the political dynamics of rugby in this part of the world better than any and he has been instrumental in ensuring Brazil was ready for rugby in the Olympics and ensuring a sustainable plan is in place for after the Games. “The atmosphere’s awesome and I’m just glad to see our Kiwi flag up there and fans out there”.