Australia’s women’s rugby sevens team have stamped themselves as a leading gold medal contender with a 34-5 thrashing of a hapless South Africa in their Olympic tournament opener.
Having watched the men’s team lose their bronze medal match to the Blitzboks in heartbreaking fashion overnight, the 2016 Olympic champions were far too good from start to finish, Maddison Levi leading the way with four of the team’s six tries.
Using the wide open spaces of the Stade de France expertly, South Africa’s defence was shredded time and again as Levi, together with sister Teagan and Faith Nathan, put on the afterburners to score try after try.
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However, the win was soured midway through the second half when speedster Kaitlin Shave suffered an innocuous knee injury.
Attempting to soldier on in the dying minutes, a hobbled Shave remained on-field, only to remain obviously hobbled.
Cruelly, her match would finish a minute early after a high tackle was deemed worthy of a yellow card, which was doled out to her while she sat on the sidelines being attended to by medical staff.
The late blow put paid to Australia’s hopes of keeping South Africa scoreless, the six-woman team letting in a consolation try after the final siren.
Up next for the Aussies is a showdown with old foes Great Britain in the wee hours of Monday morning (AEST), with a win to leave them all but certain to qualify for the quarter-finals.
MORE TO COME
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