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Olympic Sevens rugby quarter-finals line-up confirmed as France stumble
By Ian Cameron
The line-up for the Olympics Sevens rugby quarter-finals have been confirmed in Paris.
Ireland, New Zealand, Fiji, South Africa, France, USA, Australia and Argentina will now contest the knock-out stage of the tournament that is currently being played out at Stade de France in the French capital.
Ireland will play Fiji after losing 14-12 in the Pool A decider against New Zealand, while South Africa's big score in their 49-5 win over Japan saw them go through with just one win to their name.
New Zealand will play Pool A opponents South Africa again in their quarter-final.
Australia topped Pool B with three wins from three, with Argentina taking second place. The South Americans will now take on France in the quarter-finals, while Australia will play the United States.
Favourites France came second to Fiji, in Pool C, with just one win and one draw to their name. The USA, also with one win and one draw, qualified third on points difference.
Antoine Dupont's France have failed to impress so far in their home Olympics, with a 12-12 draw against the USA and a 19-12 loss to reigning champs Fiji dampening French spirits. "We need to raise our level. If not, we will not go too far. We need to be focused on the game and not distracted because we are capable of better. In the last minutes we showed our mindset is strong," said Dupont on Wednesday after Day 1.
The quarter-finals start from 8pm UK time tonight, July 25th.
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Latest Comments
I was at the match and at no time did the Red Roses look like losing and won with a bit to spare. Withstood a bit of pressure in the first 20 mins and easily repelled the odd run on the wing by Leti-I'iga as she is nowhere near quick enough over 50 yards, even our second row caught her. Why she is picked before Tui I have no idea. Red Roses didn't play awfully well all through the game and turned off a bit in the 2nd half and BFs gained a bit of momentum with a fortunate bounce try and a weak tackle. The only time the England line was threatened was when they scored their 2nd try, there were no line breaks, and the Red Roses didn't take advantage of a number of opportunities at the other end. The crowd started up Mexican waves with 30 mins left, a sure sign that they could see it was done and dusted. NZ rugby teams never lose it's just that sometimes the other team scores more points than them.
Go to commentsIt would be worth the admission money to know how much research he did before accepting the job Rugs... He wasn't an SRP coach so he would not have found out that way, though thee would have been plenty on the AB satff to tell him all about Aussie....
I think it's safe to say he has more work to do now than he had to do with Ireland when he took over in 2013.
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