Heartbreak in sevens as women fall short
Great Britain’s women’s sevens finished fourth for second Olympics in a row after a heartbreaking defeat in bronze medal match.
It was an unfortunate and emotional end to the women’s sevens campaign for GB in Tokyo after they lost a closely contested match against first-time medallists Fiji.
Team GB had had a really promising campaign up until that point and were heavily tipped to medal after some marker performances in the group stage.
Scott Forrest’s team started off their Olympic dream against debutants ROC (Russian Olympic committee) who took GB by the surprise and took them all the way to the final seconds before Holly Aitchison burst through the defence to finish under the posts and captain Abigail Brown converted a much needed extra two points to get off to the best possible start.
They went into the second game with a vast amount of confidence and a nothing to lose attitude as they took on World Champions and reigning Olympic silver medallists New Zealand, who were the favourites to take the gold medal.
They took a shock 21-0 lead into half-time with tries through Helena Rowland, Megan Jones and Jasmine Joyce and three conversions by Aitchison. However, that just seemed to poke the bear and the Black Ferns came storming back in the second half and eventually won the game 26-21, but Team GB could take a lot of confidence from a game that they weren’t given a chance in.
The team’s final group game was against another debutant side Kenya, a side who looked good in losses against the ROC and New Zealand and were not to be taken lightly. However, on the back of the game against the Black Ferns, Team GB came storming out and put 31 points on the Kenyans without reply, with one of the try scorers being former University of Bath student Natasha Hunt.
In the next round, Team GB met a much-fancied USA side who beat reigning Olympic champions Australia in the group phase, so they were not to be taken lightly. GB started well and scored a breakaway try through Jasmine Joyce inside the first minute, and then doubled the score before half-time to go into the break 14-0 up.
Forrest’s side controlled the second half and even with a late flurry of tries by the USA, Team GB won 21- 12 to advance to the semi-finals to meet France, a side who shocked many throughout the tournament. France took control of the game early on and threatened to run away with it with two scores in the first two minutes.
However, you’ve always got a chance when you’ve got speedster Joyce in your side and she cut the deficit to make the game 21-12 at half time. The sides exchanged one try each in the second half and Great Britain could’ve even levelled it in the final minutes but, with a great defensive effort, France were able to hold on to advance to the final with a 26-19 win.
Although it wasn’t the game Team GB wanted to be in they were still in with a chance of winning a medal in the third-place play-off against Fiji, a side who had knocked out reigning champions Australia in the quarter-finals. The Fijian women sure did show that class throughout the game and controlled the vast majority of it, in defence and attack.
Team GB were outclassed in the first half with Fiji scoring two tries before half-time with Megan Jones halving the deficit in time added on. The sides shared a score each in the second half, but that’s as good as it got for Team GB and Fiji ran out 21-12 winners to take a first Olympic medal for any Fijian woman.
Alongside Hunt was fellow University of Bath graduate Deborah Fleming.
Fleming, who studied sport & social sciences, said on Instagram: “Devastated to leave the Olympic games without a medal.
“To come fourth, it hurts physically. Thank you to every single person who supported our Olympic campaign.
“All of the messages of support and encouragement were so appreciated.
“Sorry that we weren’t able to bring home a medal but I hope that we inspired someone to follow their dream, whatever that dream may be.”