RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — New Zealand narrowly avoided a major upset against the United States on Sunday to join Australia, Canada and Britain in the playoffs for the first rugby sevens medals awarded at the Olympics.
The semifinal pairings suggest the status quo in women's sevens was maintained throughout the tournament, although the route to the playoffs was anything but routine.
World sevens series champion Australia rebounded from a surprising 12-12 draw with the United States in the last game of the pool stage to trounce Spain 24-0 and set up a semifinal match against Canada, which rallied to beat France 15-5 in the quarterfinals after dropping its last pool match to Britain.