Paris Olympics: China women cruise through in Monaco to seal final rugby sevens spot
- South Africa secure their place on the men’s side at the expense of Great Britain
China secured the final place in the women’s rugby sevens tournament at the Paris Olympics on Sunday, with South Africa taking the last spot in the men’s draw at the expense of Great Britain.
Both sides qualified for the Games after winning the Olympic repechage over the weekend in Monaco, where 12 teams in each draw battled it out for the last available place at the Games up for grabs.
Hong Kong’s men and women both made it to the quarter-finals of their competitions, but were comfortably beaten by Spain and Poland, respectively. The men lost 26-5, and the women went down 36-0.
China’s women, who have competed in the Sevens World Cup since the inaugural tournament in 2009 and were favourites to book their place, cruised through their group with big wins over Mexico, the Czech Republic and Poland.
They went on to beat Paraguay 31-0 in the last eight before facing Poland again in the semi-finals.
A 40-7 win swept China into the final where they dispatched Kenya 24-7 to qualify for their second successive Olympics.
“We are feeling really good, we are so excited to go to Paris,” said Chen Keyi, who scored two of her side’s tries. “I think we deserve it, we work so hard for each other, on and off the field.
“[Time for] a holiday for us I think. We want to go home and see our parents and friends. See you in Paris!”
The men’s final pitted the tournament’s two favourites against each other: Great Britain, who won silver at Rio 2016, and South Africa, who won bronze at the same Olympics.
Quewin Nortje opened the scoring for the “Blitzboks” with Tristan Leyds converting to make it 7-0. Robbie Fergusson scored in the corner for GB to cut the lead to two but from the restart Shilton van Wyk ran 50 metres to score.
With Leyds converting, South Africa were 14-5 up at half-time. There was no score in the second half, handing South Africa a place in Paris while the British miss out.
“It’s a pretty special group we have here, just to cherish the moment is what we’re living for,” Leyds said. “There was a lot of external pressure, the people back home get disappointed [when we don’t perform], but we kept the group tight and it paid off, we qualified for Paris.”
The rugby sevens at the Olympics will take place from July 24 to 30 at the Stade de France.
Olympic Rugby Sevens
Men: Argentina, Australia, Fiji, France, Ireland, Japan, Kenya, New Zealand, Samoa, South Africa, USA, Uruguay
Women: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Fiji, France, Great Britain, Ireland, Japan, New Zealand, South Africa, United States
