August 7, 2016
Team USA Women’s Rugby Sevens Wins 48-0 Against Colombia
Doug Coil
Yesterday Team USA Women’s Rugby Sevens won their first match against Colombia 48-0 at Deodoro Stadium. This was an important win as point differential will be the key to advancing to the knockout round.
The USA was unable to overcome a first half deficit against Fiji and lost 12-7 in their first match. Team USA concludes their Pool play against at 12:30 p.m. ET against 2015-16 World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series champion Australia, which is undefeated through two games.
After an early penalty by both sides, Bui Baravilala offloaded to Alev Kelter for the first try against Colombia, her second of the Olympics. The conversion was good and USA had a 7-0 lead.
Team Captain Kelly Griffin said “We know physicality is a big part of our game and we wanted to bring that back into this second game. We talked about it at half time and just knew we needed to collect ourselves, keep our heads in the game, and play our style.”
Nathalie Marchino, who has represented the U.S. at Rugby World Cups and on the World Sevens Series, kicked away possession from behind the Colombian 22. Baravilala won the chase, but lost the ball trying to offload. Victoria Folayan wona turnover and Griffin found Lauren Doyle for the second try of the match and 12-0 lead.
Lauren Doyle said about playing at the Olympics later that “It’s such an amazing feeling; the atmosphere is different Just playing under the lights like this is incredible. We don’t get to do this very often so it’s just a really cool feeling to be out here.”
Folayan soon attacked across midfield and then Kathryn Johnson found Kelter for the a try. Folayan also set up the U.S.’s final try of the half with a run past the Colombian 10, as Johnson fended a defender and went in for a try and a 24-0 lead at halftime.
Richie Walker made several substitutions at halftime. The combination of Ryan Carlyle and Jessica Javelet paid dividends right away as Javelet found a lane and added a try. Carlyle then added a try of her own after an attack led by Baravilala and Griffin.
Johnson and Joanne Fa’avesi Both added tries to conclude the match with a impressive 48-0 win against Colombia.
Meanwhile, Australia beat Fiji 36-0 and leads the Pool. A win or a close match loss, would likely advance Team USA to the Quarterfinals. Sunday’s match against Australia is scheduled to kick off on USA at 12:30 p.m. ET, with a live stream available via NBC Olympics’ website.
Lauren Doyle said, “[It was] definitely a let-down in the first game.” We had to get the first game of the Olympics out of our system. But we really came together in this last game and now we’re on the climb; we’re going in the right direction in time for Australia tomorrow.”
1. Jillion Potter 2. Kelly Griffin 3. Kathryn Johnson 4. Alev Kelter 5. Bui Baravilala 6. Lauren Doyle 7. Victoria Folayan 8. Carmen Farmer 9. Joanne Fa’avesi 10. Richelle Stephens 11. Ryan Carlyle 12. Jessica JaveletTeam USA Rugby Sevens Squad | Rio 2016 Olympic Summer Games
v. Fiji – L 12-7
v. Colombia – W 48-0
v. Australia – Sunday, Aug. 7 @ noon ET – LIVE on USA & online
