There have been many great moments for the people of France so far during the Olympics, but the Canadian women’s rugby team might have delivered one of their most disappointing so far.
On Monday night, at the iconic Stade de France in Paris, Canada came through with a 19-14 win over the hosts in the women’s rugby sevens quarterfinal.
And while the Canadians were all smiles after the big win, the French team appeared to pretty much all be brought to tears after their Olympic medal hopes ran out right in front of them.
Epic celebration after Canada’s big quarter-final win in women’s rugby 🏉 🇨🇦
They beat France in France pic.twitter.com/653rEeshoE
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) July 29, 2024
In the one-and-done event, the Canadians pushed out a victory over a favoured French side. While Canada is a top-five side in the world, the No. 3 ranked French were expected to medal on home soil. France finished second with a silver medal at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, while Canada was eliminated in the group stage.
In tomorrow’s semifinal, Canada will play Australia, who defeated Ireland in a quarterfinal match immediately following their own win.
Jubilation for Canada and tears for France.
The Canadian women are headed to the semi-finals in Olympic rugby 7s pic.twitter.com/XIxKdJx2xP
— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) July 29, 2024
One of the most exciting, yet unforgiving Olympic sports, rugby sevens is in its third Olympic Games after being introduced to the program at Rio 2016.
With seven players a side and just seven minutes in a half, the high-scoring sport has traditionally been one of the first events at the Olympics, with the teams playing up to six matches over the course of just three days.
When are the rest of rugby sevens at the Olympics?
On the other side of the bracket, New Zealand and the United States of America will face off in a semifinal. The games get underway at 9:30 am ET/6:30 am ET tomorrow, with Canada expected to face Australia at 10 am ET/7 am ET.
The winners of the two games will advance to the gold medal match, which takes place at 1:45 pm ET/ 11:45 am PT. The losers, meanwhile, will face off slightly earlier for bronze at 1 pm ET/ 11 am PT.
On the men’s side, France won the gold medal over Fiji on July 27 with a 28-7 win, while South Africa beat Australia 26-19 in the bronze match.