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Alice Soper
@alicesoapbox.bsky.social
Another place to get loud about women’s sports.
827 followers322 following287 posts
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ASalicesoapbox.bsky.social

Highly recommend following Womenzsports over on instagram, Facebook or Twitter… or even just subscribe to their substack. They are keeping tabs on how and when all our women are performing to building my watch plans off their mahi!

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And finally pool c

France came close to gold medal victory in Tokyo and want to be the first hosts to ever podium in Paris. They are coming into this tournament in good form, having finished third in the World Series and setting a new try scoring record for their team in the process. France is a side that has everything they need to win but just need the pieces to all click together. If they work on their discipline and turn more of their entries into the 22 into tries, they will be away. Five of their silver medallist return and all of them will be dreaming of an Olympic final on home ground.
USA dominated their pool play at the last Olympics before stumbling in the playoffs. They will want to put their best foot forward to make this their best Olympic performance yet. USA are the only team with a woman head coach, Emilie Bydwell. Who played with the sidein their Seven's World Cup third place finish in 2013. USA enter this tournament in good form, setting a new record for number of tries scored they have scored in a season. They love a launch play with over half of their tries coming from set piece. Seven of their Tokyo team return and this will be the last tournament of co-captain Naya Tapper.
Japan have won just one match in two Olympic appearances. This is not without trying as they came close against USA in Tokyo, going down 17-7. Their lack of Olympic success is driven by their inability to convert effort into points. Being held to just one try or less in 6 of their 10 Olympic games. The story of Tokyo was the controversial decision to leave Rio captain, Chiharu Nakamura, out of the squad. Japan don't like to make the same mistake twice though so have called Nakamura back into the team for Paris. With her leadership locked in alongside five other players from 2020, they will be looking for their second win.
Brazil made full use of home advantage in their first Olympic appearance, winning 3 of their 5 games. This built upon their home turf dominance, having won the South America Women's Sevens Championship every year they constested from 2004-2022. Unfortunately this success didn't travel with them to Tokyo. Where they only managed to pick up one win over hosts Japan. Brazil have a high level of retention in their squad from Tokyo who will want to grow from that experience.
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Pool B

Inaugural gold medallists, Australia head into this Olympic games World Series champions. The last time they did that, they won in Rio so they will be hoping this pattern holds. Just two points knocked them out of a title defence in 2020 and they will be hungry to right that wrong. Fast and expansive in their play, they scored 44% of their tries from quick taps in the last season. Seven of their Tokyo squad return this Olympic games but this will be the final Aussie tournament for rainbow headgear wearing legend, Sharni Smale.
Ireland make their Olympic games debut in Paris after a fairytale finish in Perth. The cup win making them be the first Irish side, men or women, to win a leg of the World Series. It was bloody magic, honestly. Watch this match back on reply if you can. Since this win, they have hit a bit of trouble. Only picking up wins against sides ranked lower than them and seeing their try scoring rate drop in the second half of the season. Ireland will need to break this run of form and break the line more easily if they are to get out of the pool stages. We've seen them enact miracles before though so nothing is impossible.
For some reason Great Britain gets to team up for the Olympics \(*')./ which only makes you kind of bitter as a former colony. At any rate, it means we all get a preview of what a British and Irish Lions side might look like. The two time fourth placers will want to finally secure an medal for their efforts in Paris. Tokyo was a dogfight for the Brits, with 5 of their 6 matches won by a single figure margin. They will be hoping that 15s star, Ellie Kildunne, carries her winning ways into the short format. So that they don't come up short again this time.
South Africa Olympic debut has been three cycles in the making. They successfully qualifed in 2016 and 2020 but were not supported to attend by their Olympic committee. Their appearance a testiment to the resilience of their playing group who continued to back their Olympic dream. It couldn't have come at a better time as South African women's rugby is growing from strength to strength. In line with the rugby their country is famours for, their sevens team loves set piece. 36% of their tries coming from set piece in the last season. South Africa finished their season strong and will like to start their first Olympic campaign the same way.
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And break down for Pool A

Reigning champions have a 92% win record at the Olympic games and hold record for number of tries scored. Eight of the players remain from Tokyo and four will be making their third Olympic appearance. This includes Tyla King and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe, who have announced that this will be their final Black Ferns Sevens appearance. New Zealand will be boosted by the remarkable return of co-captain Sarah Hirini, after rupturing her ACL in December. Sevens fans will be hoping that their fierce rivalry with Australia writes another chapter but will also be weary of Fiji, who have a score to settle after New Zealand knocked them out in the semi final at the last Olympics.
Sevens is Fiji's national sport. Such is their love for the game that after their bronze medal win at the last Olympic games the Fijiana team featured alongside their men's team on a limited edition $7 note. Despite their immense talent, Fiji have struggled to with their union at times. Most recently being forced to sleep overnight on park benches on their way to a tournament on the World Series. Nevertheless, the Fijian women will let nothing stop them particularly when the offloads start flying. A controversial semi final ankletapped them at the last Olympics. They will be keen to push further in Paris. Toso Viti!
Bronze medalist in 2016 and fifth on the World Sevens circuit this season, Canada know how to play sevens. If their defense is on, so are they. Canada is yet to lose an Olympic game where they hold their opposition to 10 points or less. They are a side that pride themselves on the details, topping restart retention rates and a healthy 85% scoring rate when they enter an oppositions 22. They failed to get out of the pool against France, Fiji and Brazil in Tokyo so will be fighting for medal contention this time. Only three players survive from the last Olympic Games with Charity Williams appearing in her third.
China made their Olympic debut in Tokyo and managed to pick wins against Japan and Russian to finish in 7th place. They won the World Rugby Challenger series this season in a dominate display, losing just one match to Kenya. Seven of the players that featured in Tokyo will return in Paris and will want to carry this momentum through. While China face incredibly tough opposition in their pool, they have held respectable scorelines against such opposition before. Going down by just two tries at the last Olympics to USA and silver medalist, France. So expect great heart from this side.
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ASalicesoapbox.bsky.social

I have done this in 7s over on instagram but here you go:

Cheat sheet
Sevens entered the Summer Olympics in 2016. It has since had a profound impact on both the short and long form of rugby union, contributing heavily to the growth of women's rugby. The first medallist in Rio were Australia with gold, New Zealand with silver and Canada with bronze. Tokyo saw new medallists with New Zealand taking gold, France silver and Fiji securing bronze. At both previous Olympics, Great Britain has just missed out on a medal finishing fourth. Outside of Olympics, sevens players competed annually in a World Series and also play a World Cup every four years. The World Series was relaunched as SVNS in 2023, to make the competition more equitable for the men and women competing. To which I can only say, ABOUT DAMN TIME :)
A round robin is played in the pools with 3 points for a win, 2 for a draw and 1 point for a loss. The top two in each pool progress to knock stages along with the best two 3rd place finishes across the pools.
Games to watch (that are still coming up now) is France vs USA at 1.30am NZT on Tuesday
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You’re such sweeties. Thank you for your ongoing support!

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ASalicesoapbox.bsky.social

In case you were wondering, it was this episode with Jacqui Elmsly talking Flag Football 🥰 open.spotify.com/episode/5zpk...

Jacqui Elmsly (American & Flag Football)
Jacqui Elmsly (American & Flag Football)

Listen to this episode from WOMENZSPORTS presents Alice's Soapbox on Spotify. WOMENZSPORTS is hyped to share our kōrero with Jacqui Elmsly: an Aotearoa Flag Fern, player for Hamilton Hawks American Fo...

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This musing brought to you by me being the only plus one to a baby shower cause I’m a woman.

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We may or may not be working on a current review of professionalism across the top 5 countries 👀

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ASalicesoapbox.bsky.social

Good question, last I asked it was like a per diem in camp fee. But still no retainers.

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Alice Soper
@alicesoapbox.bsky.social
Another place to get loud about women’s sports.
827 followers322 following287 posts
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