Rio 2016 champions Australia set early benchmark at Olympic Games Olympic Games Paris 2024

Australia set out their stall in front of a record crowd on day one of the Olympics Games Paris 2024 as they beat South Africa and Great Britain to go top of Pool B and book their place in the medal quarter-finals.

USA, France and defending Olympic champions New Zealand also secured their spots in the quarter-finals while China pulled off the upset of the day as they beat Fiji 40-12.

POOL A

New Zealand ended day one top of Pool A after closing out the day’s action with an impressive 33-7 defeat of Canada, adding to their earlier 43-5 victory against China. 

Jorja Miller scored a brace of tries in the first half against Canada, Risi Pouri-Lane getting another to give them a 19-7 lead at the break. Two more from Jazmin Felix-Hotham and Portia Woodman-Wickliffe sent them into day two with a spring in their step.

Meanwhile, Tokyo bronze medallists Fiji slumped to two losses from two, edged 17-14 by Canada in their opener before they were beaten by China.

Fijiana led the match 7-5 after three minutes but the SVNS 2025 newcomers kept coming at them, crossing for six tries to record a famous Olympic victory. 

POOL B 

Australia got off to a flying start against South Africa in their opener, Maddison Levi and Faith Nathan both dotting down in the right corner inside the first four minutes.

Levi scored twice more to complete her hat-trick before the break, taking Australia 24-0 ahead before adding a fourth in the second half. Her sister Teagan also got in on the action with a try of her own in a 34-5 win.

They took on Great Britain in their second outing, and while Heather Cowell opened the scoring after Ellie Kildunne’s break, Maddison Levi soon levelled things at the other end in the first of six unanswered Australian tries. Levi added two more to take her personal tally to seven with Bienne Terita, Teagan Levi and Nathan taking them to a 36-5 victory.

Great Britain, however, will head into day two second in the pool after they beat Ireland 21-12 in their opening game. A wriggling Amee Leigh Murphy Crowe had opened the scoring for Ireland, but Great Britain hit back immediately from the following kick-off, a Meg Jones offload releasing Isla Norman-Bell under the posts. 

Ireland put the pressure back on the British defensive line, Murphy Crowe adding her second to lead at the break, but after Jasmine Joyce broke two Irish tackles to score and Emma Uren found space after a hectic attacking phase, Great Britain came away with the win.

Ireland recovered well to beat South Africa 38-0 in their second game, tries from Béibhinn Parsons, Stacey Flood, Vicki Elmes Kinlan, Eve Higgins and Murphy Crowe in a dominant second half keeping them in the fight for gold. 

POOL C

USA got their Olympic campaign off to a strong start as they defeated Japan 36-7 in Pool C. Japan had got the first points of the game through Sakura Mizutani, but from there on it was all Women's Eagles Sevens, Kristi Kirshe scoring a brace in a six-try victory.

A 24-5 win against Brazil in their second game took them into day two unbeaten, with a showdown against France to decide the pool in store tomorrow (kick-off 15:30 local time, GMT+2).

Hosts France also ended the day unbeaten after convincing wins against Brazil and Japan – which they secured without conceding a single point.

Les Bleues Sevens won 26-0 in their opener against the South Americans before a brilliant performance against Japan ended 49-0 in their favour, Ian Jason scoring three of her side's seven tries on their way to the Pool C summit.