‘Bit of NBA style’: New Zealand mean ‘business’ in pursuit of Olympic gold

Rio Olympics gold medallist Alicia Lucas has sung New Zealand’s praises after they started their quest for Paris Games glory with two dominant wins over China and Canada in front of a record-breaking women’s rugby sevens crowd.

With thousands of fans watching, cheering and singing at the world-famous Stade de France, New Zealand didn’t look at all fazed by all of the attention they received as one of the gold medal favourites.

New Zealand won the League title in the SVNS Series in 2023/24 and were within 90 or so of progressing though to the Championship Final at Madrid’s Civitas Metropolitano. They’ve shown time and time again that they’ll be among the contenders at the Paris Games.

Sarah Hirini took the field eight months on from a devastating knee injury in Dubai and led the Kiwis to a 43-5 win over China to start. Michaela Blyde scored four tries, Stacey Waaka had two and Hirini crossed for one as they kicked things off with a bang.

It was a bit of a nervy challenge for the New Zealanders next up, though, as they went head-to-head with a team who beat them in Madrid last month. Canada put up a valiant fight but couldn’t hold on as they went down swinging 33-7.

“We expect nothing else from New Zealand. They’ve come out of the blocks absolutely firing,” former Australia sevens star Alicia Lucas said on Stan Sports’ Olympics Daily.

“I got to see them come out – they were dressed in their blazers. They kind of brought a bit of NBA style to the entrance, a bit of drip season they brought into the Stade de France today and they came out meaning business.

“Michaela Blyde scored four tries in eight minutes… but you expect nothing else from New Zealand.

“They’re fierce rivals of ours, they’re competitors, they’ve been successful in the Olympic Games before and they had a really good start against Fiji and a tough match against Canada but they rolled over the top of them in the end.”

Those two wins have already seen New Zealand qualify for the quarter-finals but they’ll want to keep some momentum through to that stage by winning their final pool match. The defending Olympic gold medallists take on Fiji in the early hours of Tuesday morning (NZT).

If all that goes to plan, and Australia maintain their unbeaten run when they take on Ireland on day two, then a “fairytale” final between the neighbouring nations could be on the cards. They’re widely considered the two clear favourites to take out gold.

Australia scored two late tries to beat New Zealand as Civitas Metropolitano last month. The Aussies moved on to the Championship Final and emerged victorious as they beat France who are definitely another team to watch out for at the Games.

The Aussies and New Zealanders have historically been the two top dogs in women’s rugby sevens and have met in an Olympic gold medal match once before in 2016. But eight years on, New Zealand would probably be considered the team to beat.

“We definitely don’t want any mishaps and slips on that side of the draw,” Lucas explained

“We want to see if the fairytale is to be, we want to see Australia and New Zealand in that gold medal match – the two best teams all year, we want to see them fighting it out.

“Canada had a brave fight but New Zealand (were) too good in the end.”