The first day of the men’s Olympic rugby sevens will forever be remembered for one of the sport’s more remarkable results. Just as they did at the 2015 Rugby World Cup in Brighton it was Japan who supplied the biggest of shocks, downing New Zealand 14-12 on the opening morning of pool competition.
Outcomes in sevens tend to be more unpredictable than in 15s but by any standards this scoreline will reverberate around the world, reviving memories of the Brave Blossoms triumph over South Africa last September. To add injury to insult, the Kiwis star man, Sonny Bill Williams was helped off early in the second-half after rupturing an achilles, prematurely ending his participation in the Games.
Japan fully deserved their success, taking an early lead through Truya Goto and surprising New Zealand with the fast tempo of their rugby. The Kiwis went back in front thanks to tries from Scott Curry and Akira Ioane, only for Japan to unexpectedly level the scores when Kameli Soejima surged over. It left Katsuyuki Sakai with an angled conversion which he coolly slotted. Despite a late lineout turnover which offered New Zealand one last chance of a reprieve, Japan held on for their second famous victory inside 12 months.
“We started getting more confident and New Zealand started to struggle a bit,” said Japan’s Lomano Lemeki. “We thought, if we keep on moving the ball around, the big guys will tire somewhere and eventually they did. We had a game plan against New Zealand – play at our pace and they would get frustrated.
“It is unbelievable. You never see a minnow come here and beat a team which is supposed to be a gold medal contender. I am still shocked, to be honest.”
Australia were also upset on the opening day by an impressive French side, while Argentina needed a last-gasp score to avoid defeat to the United States. Team GB opened their campaign with a comfortable 31-7 victory over Kenya.
