Rugby: Australia, New Zealand come through scares to reach semis

Reuters: New Zealand and Australia were both given a fright by the United States but remained on course to meet in the inaugural Olympic women’s sevens final by reaching the semi-finals unbeaten in Rio on Sunday.

World series champions Australia needed a late converted try to draw 12-12 with the Americans in the pool stage in the afternoon but blanked Spain 24-0 in the evening to set up a meeting on Monday with Canada, who beat France 15-5.

New Zealand had romped into their quarter-final against the Americans but were forced to defend a 5-0 lead with only six players for three minutes of the second half before securing their passage to a semi-final against Britain, 26-7 winners over Fiji.

After racking up 109 points in their first three matches, New Zealand had been held to just one Portia Woodman try, her sixth of tournament, when American flyer Jessica Javelet was taken down chasing a kick through.

2016 Rio Olympics - Rugby - Preliminary - Women's Pool A Australia v USA - Deodoro Stadium - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil - 07/08/2016. Emma Tonegato (AUS) of Australia scores as she is tackled by Carmen Farmer (USA) of USA. REUTERS

Australia’s progress was smoother, Charlotte Caslick scored a brace and Emma Tonegato once to both move to six tries for the tournament, but coach Tim Walsh admitted his side had been far from their best.

The third seeded Canadians, who were stunned 22-0 by Britain in their final pool match earlier on Sunday, recovered from a poor start against a fired-up French side to progress to the last four.

Hosts Brazil, Colombia, Kenya and Japan were the teams to miss out on the knockout rounds.