Canada break French hearts as women’s Olympic Sevens semi-finals confirmed

French hopes of a golden Olympic double were extinguished on Monday as they suffered an agonising 19-14 defeat to Canada in the women’s sevens quarter-finals.

The hosts led 14-7 early in the second half but Piper Logan’s second try of the match levelled the scores before Chloe Daniels earned Canada a hard-fought victory and their place in the Paris 2024 semi-finals.

Les Bleues Sevens had one last chance to revive their gold medal hopes from the restart but were unable to find a way through the Canadian defence.

Canada will play Rio 2016 champions Australia in the semi-finals after the SVNS Grand Final winners eased to a 40-7 victory against Ireland in the last match of day two.

Maddison Levi ran in a hat-trick against the Irish to set a new Olympic record for the number of tries scored at a single Games. She has now crossed the whitewash 11 times in only four matches.

Meanwhile, SVNS League Winners and defending Olympic champions New Zealand were in dominant form as they cruised past China in the opening quarter-final on Monday.

The Black Ferns Sevens had beaten the same opposition 43-5 in the pool stage, and they were even more ruthless in the last eight, running in nine tries to rack up the most points ever scored in a women’s match at the Games, winning 55-5.

Co-captain Sarah Hirini, Jazmin Felix-Hotham, Michaela Blyde and Mahina Paul each crossed the whitewash twice while Portia Woodman-Wickliffe’s score at the end of the first half took her Olympic record tally to 17.

New Zealand will play USA on Tuesday after the Women’s Eagles Sevens recovered from conceding an early try against Great Britain to secure their place in a first Olympic semi-final.

Ellie Boatman opened the scoring in the second minute at Stade de France, but USA hit back through Naya Tapper, Kristi Kirshe and Sammy Sullivan to inflict a first Olympic quarter-final defeat on Team GB.

Earlier, in the ninth-place semi-finals, Japan beat South Africa 15-12 before Brazil secured a 28-22 victory against Fiji with a stunning final-minute try.