The Wallabies won a gold medal for rugby at the 1908 Olympic Games. Now, the Australian women’s sevens side have created history for themselves and Australian rugby by being the first side, male or female, to win Olympic Gold for sevens rugby, defeating the New Zealand Women 24-17 in the final at Rio.
The Aussies scored four tries to three, but the scoreline actually flattered the New Zealanders. They were out-rucked, out-thought, out-ran and, eventually, out-played.
This was a stupendous victory for a group of athletes who made themselves into terrific rugby players, and for head coach Tim Walsh and his assistants for tailoring the winning style to the girls’ athletic qualities.
The turning point in the final came just before halftime, when the Aussies launched one last determined attack, after some stern defensive work. Kiwi star Portia Woodman knocked a ball forward deliberately.
She knew immediately the consequences of her mistake, receiving a yellow card as the Pearls turned the mistake into a try on the halftime whistle.
This gave them the lead, 10-5, for the first time in the final and the confidence, after a nervous start, to go on in the second half, running away with the game.
The last two New Zealand tries were scored in the dying minutes of the final, when the result was beyond doubt. They demonstrated the heart and determination of the Kiwis in toughing out what was a lost cause.
The Aussies hardly seemed to bother about the last New Zealand conversion, which was taken into the 11th minute of the second half, after full time.
This victory at Rio, before an excited crowd and a massive worldwide audience watching on-line or by television, was based on the fundamentals of Australian rugby for over 100 years: speed, athleticism and unflinching defence.
The girls selected were mainly athletes from other sports.
Charlotte Caslick, as an example, was a former touch footy star. Her step and bursting speed from a standing start saw her score the crucial try towards the end of the final.
From a 5-metre tap penalty, she ran with the ball in both hands and eyes locked into the defenders, she held them in her fierce gaze, then flashed through two bemused defenders to score. It was a classic touch footy manoeuvre.
Earlier in the second half, after a fierce period of defence against the New Zealanders, Ellia Green broke away and the bigger, more muscular New Zealand defenders could not cut her off as she raced away to the try line.
Green came to sevens from track athletics, she was brought on just before halftime to exploit the sending off of Woodman with her blistering speed. And she delivered.
Before the final, New Zealand experts suggested that their side had been selected to play in a physical manner to monster Australia’s “fit, small jack rabbits who use the space expertly.”
Melodie Robinson, a former New Zealand women’s rugby great herself and now an expert commentator on the game, made this point about the Aussies before the final: “Even though they wear ribbons in their hair and look like butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths, they are also controlled mongrels on the field with an incredible self-belief.”
This was a shrewd assessment. You could see the self-belief as the two teams lined up for the anthems. The Aussies were relishing the moment. There were smiles on their faces and a fierce, determined light in their eyes.
The Kiwis, on the other hand, looked to be almost overwhelmed with the weight of the moment. Some players were even crying during the anthems.
I wondered at the time whether this overtly emotional, tearful response was sign of a certain desperation, in contrast with the optimistic determination of the Aussies.
As it happened, New Zealand started stronger. But it became obvious, even after their first try, that the Kiwis were not smashing through their smaller opponents. They couldn’t get any off-loads going, which the bash-it-up tactics were designed to create.
Sevens has now made its mark on the Olympic schedule.
The reaction to the game at the stadium and around the world has been sensational. There are now thousands of young girls – here in Australia and many, many tens of thousands more around the world – who want to play sevens in the Aussie manner.
For the record, the Australian Women’s Rugby Sevens squad at Rio was:
Shannon Parry (co-captain), Sharni Williams (co-captain), Nicole Beck, Charlotte Caslick, Emilee Cherry, Chloe Dalton, Gemma Etheridge, Ellia Green, Evania Pelite, Alicia Quirk, Emma Tonegato, Amy Turner, Dominique du Toit (travelling reserve), Brooke Walker (travelling reserve).
Let’s hear it for the new golden girls of Australian sport!
Jibba Jabba
Guest
As I said referee was incompetent and could not keep up with the accuracy of the game. The try for the obvious no try caused pressure on the kiwis and it went from there. (And this is not taking into account the pre scoring knock-ons) And peterks personal attack on woodman typical given neither he nor half the bloggers here understand the psychology and nuances of the ebb and flow of the game.
Kirky
Roar Rookie
You're a green and yellow supporter!
Kirky
Roar Rookie
And old Beauden isn't altogether well endowed in the leg area either!
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Personally I'd like to see the Kiwis ditch the sevens altogether as they don't need it, it's a poor derivative of the proper game! ~ Sevens in New Zealand was only ever played and used as practice for the fifteen man game, ~ ditch it!
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Rubbish and you know it sunshine! Get your green and yellow blinkers off just for a change, gets a bit sickening your one eyed rubbish!
Kirky
Roar Rookie
Ease up mate, the Kiwi girls in reasonable circumstances would be expected to get back to No 1 in the World again, they won't be sitting back either and letting others catch up, after all they slacked off and let the Aussies catch up to them! What a dumb statement
CUW
Guest
Bolt once gave Prine Harry of England a 30m start and caught him with 5m to go , and that was for charity :D
soapit
Guest
yeah bolts a freak
soapit
Guest
just watched the clip and whats all the whinging about ozs first try about? definitely a try
Ronaldo
Guest
Except for Ella Green Peter K ... I have not seen anyone run her down. She has extreme pace.
CUW
Guest
7S has also evolved into territorial game - not sure when SGT said that. now a lot of teams kick for positioning , like in XV s to play near the opposition lines. also quite a few teams are using the press defence (like the basketball full court press or football's gegenpress ) to keep the opposition cornered or going backwards. NZ and Fiji are masters of this along with the Boks. a lot of the more prominent teams now have tall big guys in their forwards - i think USA have a basketball player and England have a genuine 2nd rower in their teams. i think this is evolution - becoz in the past , like SGT said teams developed strategies to hold the ball and defend like crazy. thus it became hard to attack and score points. so eventually they had to use the touch kicks to find territory. also i think with more attention being given to 7S , the players became stronger and faster and fitter in most teams. so there was no inequality - like yesterday when FIJI played Brazil ; Brazil kept Fiji to 7:5 in first half. in the second half it was like 35 : 7 or something. the Fijians just overpowered the Brazilians and ran all over them. thirdly , in this age with so much technology, no team can really stick to on eplan and hope tio succeed ; becoz others will analyze u and find where to hit u . i think this is what Japan did to both NZ and team GB.
Paul
Guest
Cheers, will keep an eye on it.
Jerry
Guest
I watched the Arg vs USA mens game and Joubert referred two tries to the TMO (and still managed a couple of head scratching decisions) so it must have been available in the women's tournament also.
ClarkeG
Guest
Yes this has been a point of discussion the last couple of days. This was a significant tactical error on NZ's part in my opinion. I'm not sure if they were aware - if not they should have been - but they could have made the decision to put the ball into touch at which point Woodman could have returned. They had field position and there was still 7-8 mins to play so it would not have been a bad option. Of course we know that they turned the ball over and conceded a try. But the All Blacks did the same thing in the WC final. Milner-Skudder could have kicked to touch and allowed Smith's return but he did not and Aust were able to exploit Smith's absence and Kuridrani scored. But the extended time for the sin binned player beyond the 2 mins is a point worthy of debate for the future. It could be argued that the team is being penalised over and above the penalty.
ClarkeG
Guest
Can't recall the game but I'm sure I saw it used in the womens tournament.
ClarkeG
Guest
Yes generally speaking teams will prefer to retain possession but never underestimate the value of kicking for territory when under pressure. I think the game is a lot more competitive at the top level now since Gordon was last heard saying that.
ClarkeG
Guest
No doubt there are numerous 7s school comps around the country at certain times of the year but I'm not sure it is played on a regular basis.
taylorman
Roar Guru
Yeah was joking. Over 100m bolt would give Barrett about eleven to thirteen or so meters with his 9.9x for 100m. Barrett is probably in the 10.9 at best to around 11.4 sec range. Add a second to both for the turf.
PeterK
Roar Guru
They have speed of thought, hands and feet (i.e stepping) but not so much outright pace. They get clear breaks often and have been run down by many teams including nz.
John R
Roar Guru
At Rongotai we played full contact league at lunch. Bit safer/easier on the uniform than trying to contest at rucks all the time when you've got to front up for English afterwards or what have you. Numbers would have been around 9 a side though. League 9's? And of course plenty of touch as well.