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One of the great sevens matches in recent memory ended in sadness for Argentina as Dan Bibby crossed in extra time to break a scoreless tie and put Great Britain into the semi finals. Rain made its first appearance at the Olympic 7s and made for tricky conditions, but both teams adjusted well with kicking a heavily-used tactic.
Neither side could find the try-line in the opening fourteen minutes but a penalty against James Davies for a high tackle gave Gastón Revol a chance to kick a goal with only seconds remaining. The kick was wide, and two minutes into the extra period it was Tom Mitchell with a chance for glory. His drop kick rang off the uprights but Argentina couldn’t control the rebound, and from the resulting scrum Bibby had enough pace to cut through the line and score the biggest try of his career.
The two previous quarter finals were nearly as good. Fiji ended New Zealand’s medal hopes with a 12-7 result in a fierce contest that could have gone either way. Japan then continued their dream run as Teruya Goto scored with seconds left on the clock to knock France out in dramatic fashion by 12-7. South Africa returned to form in their rematch with Australia and left no arguments with a 22-5 victory.
Earlier in the afternoon the Eagles had little trouble getting past Brazil though two tries conceded, the first and last of the game, made the final 24-12 tally look closer than it was. The USA will play Spain for 9th place after the Spaniards earned their first win of the Olympics 14-12 over Kenya, whose woeful form continues at the worst possible time.
Play continues on Thursday at 11:30am Eastern, 12:30pm local Brazilian time. The medal semi-finals kick off at 13:30 ET, 14:30 local with Fiji playing Japan and Great Britain up against South Africa
DAY TWO KNOCK-OUT RESULTS
9th PLACE SEMI FINALS
USA 24 vs 12 Brazil
Spain 14 vs 12 Kenya
MEDAL QUARTER FINALS
Fiji 12 vs 7 New Zealand
Japan 12 vs 7 France
Great Britain 5 vs 0 Argentina
South Africa 22 vs 5 Australia
DAY THREE FIXTURES (all times local Brazil)
THURS, AUG 11 – 12:30 – 11th PLACE FINAL – Brazil vs Kenya
THURS, AUG 11 – 13:00 – 9th PLACE FINAL – USA vs Spain
THURS, AUG 11 – 13:30 – 5th PLACE SF – New Zealand vs France
THURS, AUG 11 – 14:00 – 5th PLACE SF – Argentina vs Australia
THURS, AUG 11 – 14:30 – MEDAL SF – Fiji vs Japan
THURS, AUG 11 – 15:00 – MEDAL SF – Great Britain vs South Africa
THURS, AUG 11 – 17:30 – 7th PLACE FINAL
THURS, AUG 11 – 18:00 – 5th PLACE FINAL
THURS, AUG 11 – 18:30 – BRONZE MEDAL FINAL
THURS, AUG 11 – 19:00 – GOLD MEDAL FINAL
