PARIS: Defending Olympic champions New Zealand and fellow favourites Australia dominated their opening pool matches as sevens at the Stade de France on Sunday made history as the best ever attended women's rugby event.
A sell-out crowd of 69,000 packed into the stadium north of Paris, still abuzz from the euphoria of having witnessed Antoine Dupont leading France past Fiji to the host country's first gold of the Paris Games in the men's tournament on Saturday.
New Zealand put China to the sword in Pool A, Michaela Blyde scoring four tries in the 43-5 win. Canada beat Fiji 17-14 in their opener in the same pool.
Not to be outdone, Maddison Levi also scored four tries as 2016 Olympic champions Australia outclassed South Africa 34-5 in Pool B.
"It was good to get a first win under our belts and move on to the rest of the tournament. That was our aim today," said Levi, whose sister Teagan is also in the Australian squad.
Levi called the sell-out stadium "really special."
"It's kind of surreal walking out into a stadium in front of so many people. They seem to know the sport and are really respectful when needed," she said.
"It's awesome to see that not only men's, but women's rugby sevens gets crowds like this."
Also in Pool B, Britain notched up a 21-12 win over Ireland.
Amee Leigh Murphy-Crowe scored a first-half double either side of an Isla Norman-Bell five-pointer to leave Ireland 12-7 ahead at the break.
But Welsh flyer Jasmine Joyce and Emma Uren crossed for Britain in the second period, Norman-Bell hitting all three conversions for victory.
France, looking to build on the men's team's success and improve their silver medal showing from the Tokyo Games, beat Brazil 26-0 in Pool C.
The hosts scored four tries, two either side of half-time through Joanna Grisez and Chloe Pelle, and Seraphine Okemba and Ian Jason.
Also winning in the pool was the United States, who overran Japan 36-7 despite Sakura Mizutani handing the Japanese a surprise early lead.
Social media star Ilona Maher – who promotes body positivity and women's health to her followers on TikTok (1.4 million) and Instagram (1.2 million) – scored the first of six unanswered US tries.
"It is really important to have a profile, and a profile for our sport. It's about building the brand," said Maher.
"We are female rugby players – we're not getting million dollar contracts, we're not getting paid the money that we should be.
"Me and my friends are keen on getting the sport out there and getting us noticed. It's important in the US where so much attention is on other sports.
"And I think it's just about showing the personality that the women have. The game is very strong, not just for men, but for women, too.
"It's an exciting game. It's a little bit different but it's when people realise how hard it is and how much fun they get excited by it."
Maher added: "People just seem to love anything that's connected to the Olympics." - AFP