New Zealand will face USA, while Canada meet Australia in the medal semi-finals of the Olympic Games Paris 2024 women’s rugby sevens competition on Tuesday.
Four New Zealand players scored twice as they set a new points record for a women’s rugby sevens match at an Olympic Games, beating the 53 Australia had scored against Colombia at Rio 2016.
That record win set up a semi-final meeting with USA, who came back after conceding an early try to beat Great Britain in their medal quarter-final.
Meanwhile, Canada broke French hearts in a hugely physical encounter, and Maddison Levi scored her 11th try at Paris 2024 to break Portia Woodman-Wickliffe’s long-standing individual tournament try record as Australia beat Ireland to make up the final four.
China will meet Great Britain, while France will face Ireland in Tuesday’s fifth-place semi-finals. Japan will play Brazil for ninth place, and South Africa will take on Fiji in the 11th-place play-off.
MEDAL QUARTER FINALS: NEW ZEALAND 55-5 CHINA
New Zealand captain Sarah Hirini raced in to score the opening try of the match with just 15 seconds on the clock, and glided over for her second with less than a minute left of the game.
Jazmin Felix-Hotham, Michaela Blyde and Mahina Paul weighed in with doubles of their own, and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe also scored during a lesson in attacking sevens rugby, as New Zealand maintained their high-scoring perfect record against their opponents.
Dou Xinrong crossed for China’s only try, while Hirini was serving two minutes in the sin-bin shortly after scoring.
GREAT BRITAIN 7-17 USA
Naya Tapper, Kristi Kirshe and Sammy Sullivan ran in three unanswered tries for USA as they came from behind to book their place in the last four after Ellie Boatman had opened the scoring for Great Britain in an all-action last-eight encounter.
Ilona Maher came close to adding a fourth, but was chased down by Jasmine Joyce in a physical and high-intensity encounter.
Tapper and Kirshe had been on the scoresheet in a losing cause when the two sides met in the medal quarter-final at Tokyo 2020 – but USA have had the better of more recent encounters, winning four of the five meetings in this year’s SVNS series, including at the Grand Final in Madrid.
FRANCE 14-19 CANADA
Canada’s Chloe Daniels touched down with less than a minute remaining on the clock to send them through to the medal semi-finals at the end of a hard-fought and physical encounter in front of a packed Stade de France.
Piper Logan had earlier scored a try in each period, while France had answered back through Ian Jason, on the stroke of half-time, and Yolaine Yengo – who skated in to briefly give France the lead, following an offload from captain Camille Grassineau.
The last time the two sides had met, in the SVNS 2024 Championship semi-final in Madrid, France had held on to win 19-17, having been 19-5 up at one point. This time, however, Daniels cruised in to shatter French dreams of a medal double.
AUSTRALIA 40-7 IRELAND
Maddison Levi took her tournament try tally to a record-setting 11 – bettering Woodman-Wickliffe’s 10 at Rio 2016 – with a first-half hat-trick against Ireland in the final match of the evening at Stade de France.
Faith Nathan, Isabella Nasser and Bienne Terita also added to the try count, as clinical Australia – one of the favourites for gold – won convincingly, Stacey Flood crossing after 12 minutes for a consolation try for the hard-working Irish.
Ireland had beaten Australia for the first time in the SVNS Series 2024 Cup final in Perth – but had lost every meeting since, going scoreless in at least one half in every match.
NINTH-PLACE SEMI-FINALS
Earlier, Japan set up a ninth-place play-off against Brazil, after two second-half tries from Marin Kajiki helped them twice come from behind to beat South Africa 15-12.
Yasmim Soares was the heroine for Brazil, racing home from nearly 90m out for the decisive score, as they beat Fiji 28-22 after Ana Maria Naimasi’s second try of the game moments earlier had taken the Pacific Islanders into the narrowest of leads in an enthralling match.
South Africa will take on Fiji in the 11th-place play-off.
