Japan upsets mighty New Zealand in Olympic rugby

To make matters worse for New Zealand, Sonny Bill Williams, the highest profile player in the tournament, left the field with an ankle injury.

Williams appeared frustrated and was quickly assisted from the field without meeting the press following the end of the match.

Parry added: “When I started the game, women’s rugby in Australia wasn’t very big, it was very much a minority sport”.

As big an upset as their 15-man side’s victory over the Springboks at the Rugby World Cup previous year, Japan’s win was their first in 16 attempts against the 12-times world sevens series champions.

Australian Olympic rugby gold medal victor Charlotte Caslick has taken aim at hockey legend Ric Charlesworth for his description of the Pearls’ women’s sevens victory in Rio de Janeiro as “soft”.

” You never see a minnow come here and beat a team which is supposed to be a gold-medal contender”, he said.

New Zealand’s Tim Mikkelson is back in the drama AGAIN during the Pool C match between New Zealand and Japan as he approaches teammate DJ Forbes, who is now kind of busy having a heart-to-heart with Kazuhiro Goya of Japan.

If that wasn’t enough, the Japanese went within inches of a draw with Britain, missing a chance at a late equalizer when Teruya Goto couldn’t convert Lomano Lemeki’s last-minute try. “I am still shocked, to be honest”.

Great Britain beat Kenya 31-7 in their first Olympic men’s rugby sevens match – before Japan shocked New Zealand. “We got our kick-offs nice against Japan, who are a dynamic team, but we need to get our decisions around the breakdown right, which is an area we need to work on ahead of New Zealand”.

Britain’s loss to New Zealand saw two players sin-binned – Katy McLean and Amy Wilson-Hardy – as the tournament’s outstanding player Portia Woodman scored three tries.

“We’ve just made Australian history, rugby history. But silver is still good in New Zealand’s eyes and we hope we have done them proud”.

“We came up against two sides in New Zealand and Canada who were absolutely outstanding over the course of the games”, Middleton said.

The Fijians lead Pool A and the second-seeded South Africans posted 50 points without conceding any in wins over Spain and France to top Pool B.

Both finishing with one-win, two-loss pool records and five competition points, New Zealand finished with a points differential of +19, while the loss dropped the United States of America to +18.

“We have such different talent on our team, and we have brought them together, and I think it’s about having those different balances of athletic background”, Hughes said.

Canada’s women’s rugby sevens team won a historic medal, while Kylie Masse continued Canada’s rise to relevance in the pool.