The first day of the 2024 Paris Olympic Rugby Sevens is in the books, with the men’s competition getting underway yesterday in the French capital. The next round of action is set to kick off from 13:00 today, beginning with Samoa vs Kenya in Pool B.
We will be providing a live text coverage of all of today’s rugby sevens action, so be sure to follow along as we bring you minute by minute updates. The pool stages are starting to be established after the first two rounds, with New Zealand, Ireland, Argentina, Australia and Fiji standing triumphantly at the top of their groups with back-to-back wins.
The tournament hosts France were stunned by the United States, with the heavily favouring home fans left disgruntled by the 12-12 draw yesterday afternoon. We witnessed the Olympic debut of Toulouse and France captain Antoine Dupont in that match, with the maestro turning on the afterburners in his second outing, to score an impressive try from the half-way line against Uruguay.
Fiji racked up identical score-lines against Uruguay and the United States, with 40-12 landslide wins achieved against the North and South American nations. Fiji enter the tournament in search of their third Olympic Gold medal in rugby sevens, and are the two time champions of the men’s competition (Rio 2016 and Tokyo 2021).
Ireland impressed all onlookers in their back-to-back victories, with the likes of Hugo Keenan and Terry Kennedy shining in the 10-5 win over South Africa. Billed as the unofficial decider following Ireland’s drawn Summer series against the Springboks, the fans from the Emerald Isle were in full voice, as they achieved an impressive opening round win, and followed this up with a 40-5 hammering of Japan.
There of course has to be a shout out to Kenya, who are steadily establishing themselves as everyone’s favourite underdogs. The East Africans took the fight to the heavily backed Argentina in round one, and even built a first half lead against Los Pumas. However, the experience of the Argentines played dividends, as they ran away with the match in the second half, but only after we were treated to some ‘Usain Bolt’ celebrations from the Kenyans on the Olympic stage.
FULL RESULTS: 2024 PARIS OLYMPICS RUGBY SEVENS DAY ONE
1. Australia 21 – 14 Samoa (Pool B)
2. Argentina 31 – 12 Kenya (Pool B)
3. France 12 – 12 United States (Pool C)
4. Fiji 40 – 12 Uruguay (Pool C)
5. Ireland 10 – 5 South Africa (Pool A)
6. New Zealand 40 – 12 Japan (Pool A)
7. Australia 21 – 7 Kenya (Pool B)
8. Argentina 28 – 12 Samoa (Pool B)
9. France 19 – 12 Uruguay (Pool C)
10. Fiji 40 – 12 United States (Pool C)
11. Ireland 40 – 5 Japan (Pool A)
12. New Zealand 17 – 5 South Africa (Pool A)