Record-Breaking Attendance at Women’s Rugby Sevens Paris 2024 Olympics | WRR 163

Women’s Rugby Rundown News

7s

Olympics

• The Women’s Rugby Sevens Paris 2024 Olympics are in progress with Medal Quarterfinals to come Monday, July 29 starting at 1:00 PM CST [link]
  • Finals are on Tuesday starting at 8:00 AM CST. The Bronze medal match kicks off at 12:00 PM, followed by the Gold medal match at 12:45 PM CST
• Day 1 shattered the record for women’s rugby attendance as 66,000 fans packed Stade de France, with sevens stars shining at the Olympics [link]
• China pulled off one of the biggest upsets of the Olympics by defeating Tokyo 2020 Bronze medallists Fiji! [link]
• New Zealand broke their own record for points scored in an Olympic pool stage with 1114 [link]
• Ilona Maher has gone viral more than once at the Paris 2024 Olympics
  • THE STIFF ARM (NBC Sports) [link]
  • New fan Michael Wester “I love the Olympics because I literally knew almost nothing about rugby a day ago and now I’m screaming at my phone watching Ilona Maher stiff arm defenders like she’s the running back for my favorite college football team” [link]
  • From The Ultimate Pielord, *Morgan Freeman Voice* It was at this moment that she realized: she fucked up [link]
  • Surpassing 1 million Instagram followers 🔥, she’s now the 2nd most followed current rugby player, ahead of Antoine Dupont but 300k behind Siya Kolisi…for now [link]
• The best friend saga between Michaela Blyde and Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce is one of the most wholesome things we’ve ever seen [link]
  • “Go Michaela!” Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce cheering on New Zealand Rugby sevens player Michaela Blyde. [link]
  • Michaela’s TikTok of their encounters is heartwarming! [link]
• Jason Kelce is USA’s newest fan!
  • Former NFL star Jason Kelce and wife Kylie Kelce is in the building for Day 1 of the Women’s sevens [link]
  • Ilona Maher convinces Jason to be their super fan even if there are no rewards, no money, no money or even any swag [link]
  • Nicole Heavirland even challenged him to arm-wrestle [link]
• Women’s Rugby is having a moment and we’re here for it!! [link]
• Luiza Campos and Raquel Kochhann are proud to represent Brazil in their third Olympics [link]
  • Raquel also dazzled as a flag bearer during the Opening Ceremonies [link]
• Jasmin Joyce became the first player to represent Team GB at 3x different Olympics [link]
• Alev Kelter is heading to her third Olympic Games, but the journey has not always been easy [link]
• Check out PR7s newest gear—Women Play Rugby apparel is on sale now! [link]
• The match officials were also sporting some new gear with their last names present, a first for the sport! [link]

XVs

International

• Canada went undefeated in the first-ever Women’s U20s Transatlantic Quad Series, beating the USA, England, and Wales, while the USA took second after their win against England, based on the number of matches played [link]
  • England 22 USA 40
  • Canada 53 Wales 17
• Scotland announced an extended training squad ahead of two Autumn Tests and WXV 2 [link]
• Madagascar is already preparing for WXV3 and may have a warm up match against Kenya but that’s it [link]
• After their success winning promotion to the Europe Championship for the first time this year, Georgia are already planning their XVs test debut [link]

Premier & Club

• Round 11 of the WPL saw two 100+ point victories with Life West and Colorado Gray Wolves hitting the centenary mark and New York securing a win, leaving the All Blues still on top but only 1 point ahead of New York and 5 ahead of Colorado Gray Wolves [link]
• The Bulls Daisies will host the Border Ladies in South Africa’s Premier Division semi-finals next weekend, while DHL Western Province welcomes Sanlam Boland Dames to Cape Town in the other top-four clash, after completing 14 rounds [link]

Women’s Rugby Rundown Features

• Rugby Olympian and Social Media Star Ilona Maher Was Made For This [link]
• The Caslick Effect: How the ‘Queen of Sevens’ changed rugby in Australia forever [link]
• Ilona Maher: how a US rugby sevens player became one of the biggest stars of the Games [link]
• Joyce-Butchers hoping for third time lucky at Olympics [link]
• Scott Riddell says it’s a “huge honor” to be part of the Olympics, admitting that being an assistant coach for Great Britain’s women’s squad is a career highlight alongside his decade-long stint on Scotland’s men’s sevens circuit [link]
• Manjinder Nagra began playing rugby at the University of Bath after being persuaded by a group of female players on a night out [link]
• Humans of RugbyDAO: Phil Camm [link]
• Lisa Thomson: Scotland’s sole sevens player at Paris 2024 [link]
• Katie Hunzinger’s article on history of rugby in the Olympics and the biomechanics of the rugby scrum is a must read! [link]

Women’s Rugby Rundown Media

• US Rugby Happy Hour had Former USA 7s Eagle and current World Rugby Announcer on to talk about the Olympics, USA’s medal prospects and more [link]
• Ahead of Paris 2024, RBC Training Ground athlete Fancy Bermudez takes Anastasia Bucsis through a practice session and details her challenging journey to the Canadian rugby 7s national team [link]