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Paris 2024: Oly Whites and All Blacks Sevens begin NZ Olympic campaign
SENZ • July 24th, 2024 3:26 pm
While the official Paris 2024 opening ceremony doesn't take place until early Saturday morning (NZ time), there are a handful of events kicking off the competition in France before those festivities get underway.
The most noteworthy of those as far as Kiwi sports fans are concerned will be the men's rugby sevens, which swings into gear on Thursday morning.
The NZ men will play two of their three Group A fixtures, as they gun for their maiden gold in the sport's third Olympics appearance.
Meanwhile, the Oly Whites will begin their campaign against Guinea, part of a group which also includes the United States and hosts France.
Be sure to check in with SENZ each day for your morning fix of Olympics over the next fortnight, as we review and preview the Kiwi athletes in action and bring you plenty more from on the ground in France with guests joining both Breakfast and The Run Home at opposite ends of the day.
Thursday July 25 (NZT)
3am: Football - Oly Whites v Guinea, group game
4am: Rugby sevens – Men’s pool match v Japan
7.30am: Rugby sevens - Men’s pool match v South Africa
RESULTS
FOOTBALL:Oly Whites 2 (Matt Garbett 25’, Ben Waine 76’) Guinea 1 (Amadou Diawara 72’) Half-time: 1-0.
RUGBY SEVENS:All Blacks Sevens 40 (Akuila Rokolisoa 2 tries, Fehi Fineanganofo 2, Ngarohi McGarvey-Black 2; Rokolisoa 4 con, Andrew Knewstubb con) Japan 12 (Shotaro Tsuoka, Taiga Ishida tries; Kippei Taninaka con). Half-time: 26-7.
All Blacks Sevens 17 (McGarvey-Black, Moses Leo 2 tries; Rokolisoa con) South Africa 5 (Selvyn Davids). Half-time: 10-5.
With two wins under their belt, the All Blacks Sevens have already qualified for the quarter-finals with one match in pool play remaining. The full quarter-final lineup will be confirmed after tomorrow's play but so far Ireland, Argentina, Australia, Fiji, France and New Zealand are already in.
"We talked about coming here and giving every on this first day," All Blacks Sevens head coach Tomasi Cama told Sky Sport post-match.
"I'm really pleased with the way we performed in the first game and our last was really tough against South Africa.
"That's the game, it's chaos. You have to deal with each moment. There were a few dings for our boys, but we managed to close it out and score another at the end."
Moses Leo scored two tries against South Africa and echoed his coach's sentiments when speaking with Sky Sport.
"It's always good when you can add some value and put some points on the board. It was just my job to score some of them today," Leo said.
"It makes our mindset a hell of a lot easier heading into tomorrow and now we've got to build on what we've already established."
Photo: Iain McGregor, Photosport.
PODCASTS
After news broke Wednesday of a drone spotted flying over Football Ferns' training on two separate occasions, Canada have sent home an analyst and assistant coach in relation to the incident ahead of their first match of the women's football tournament Friday morning (NZT).
The defending Olympic champions have stood down head coach Bev Priestman for that match against New Zealand.
Sky Sport's Kimberlee Downs is on the ground at Paris as part of New Zealand's official broadcaster of the 2024 Olympic Games - listen to her update with SENZ's Scotty & Izzy below:
