The Paris Olympics women’s rugby tournament wraps up Tuesday with classification matches for 5th-8th place, placement matches for 9th-12th place. (Classification rounds determine seeding for future placement matches, which determine the final standings.) The session is headlined by the semifinals featuring showdowns between the United States and New Zealand and Canada vs. Australia. The Americans win over Great Britain guarantees they will play for a medal in Paris. Results will be updated throughout the day.
France vs. Ireland
France looked to put a disappointing quarterfinals loss behind them. To the delight of the sold-out crowd, France was able to beat Ireland 19-7.
France’s bad loss clearly had a hangover effect on the squad in the first half, they looked the worst they’ve looked all tournament. Ireland’s Eve Higgins capitalized with her fourth try of the tournament, the lone score in the first half.
A day after questionably not starting in the quarterfinals (she had scored four tries in the early match), France’s Seraphine Okemba broke through to score two tries. France found their form again and will face China for fifth place.
China vs. Great Britain
Great Britain, on the last play of the match, committed an unforgiveable mistake to fall to China, 19-15.
Isla Norman-Bell made a fatal error as time expired in the match and threw the ball out of bounds, which is illegal to end a match. A rattled Great Britain was unable to stop Hu Yu’s game-winning try and China advanced to play in the 5th – 6th placement match.
Ellie Kildunne scored the first try of the match for Great Britain, but China used space to its advantage to score two unanswered tries.
Great Britain answered with two tries of its own around the half, including a try by three-time Olympian Jasmine Joyce.
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