Rio 2016: Great Britain win thriller in extra time against Argentina to reach last four of Sevens
Simon Amor's side produced a heroic display at Rio’s Deodoro Stadium
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Your support makes all the difference.Great Britain’s Rugby Sevens men's team qualified for the last four at Rio’s Deodoro Stadium on Wednesday night after a thrilling 5-0 quarter-final victory over Argentina in extra time when Dan Bibby dived over with a minute to go. The Pumas had spurned a penalty drop goal to win the match with the clock on zero at the end of normal time.
The match had been scoreless in normal time - and the Pumas looked as though they would snatch victory at the death - but the kick sailed wide. James Davies, in the sin bin for a high tackle that had given the penalty away, breathed a sigh of relief. Captain Tom Mitchell then had his own penalty drop goal in extra time to win it but his kick hit the upright and bounced back into play. It needed Bibby, with just 60 on the clock, to find the gap, dive through and send GB through to the last four where they will meet South Africa on Thursday.
The GB squad were bouncing after a nervous victory over the All Blacks at lunchtime but failed to take that form into the Pumas match. With rain falling heavily - the weekend sunshine a thing of the past - Britain, with the home Brazilian support firmly and loudly in their corner, started poorly with Mitchell throwing a pass straight into touch. GB regained the ball but Mitchell knocked-on.
The half continued in the same sloppy fashion with neither side creating clear chances. Ball-handling in the rain was proving problematic. GB then lost James Rodwell to injury and the half ended scoreless - a rarity in this Sevens tournament.
At the start of the second half a clever break from Bibby came to nothing. A fine burst down the touchline from Davies nearly saw GB break the deadlock but he stumbled and was caught. With three minutes to go it was still pointless.
Dan Norton was held up just short of the line as GB began to pile on the pressure. With 40 seconds on the clock Argentina lost Juan Imhoff to the sin bin for a spear tackle. The clock ticked to zero. Davies then joined Imhoff in the bin - and Argentina had that golden shot to win the match.
The game went into five minutes of extra time with the next scorer the winner. Mitchell struck the post his effort as the drama hit the heights. Then Bibby fell over to settle a low-scoring but nail-biting match to leave the Pumas on their knees and GB jumping.
Earlier in the day GB had pulled off a brilliant 21-19 victory over the All Blacks. It was rub-your-eyes stuff in the first half from GB before they had to withstand huge pressure in the second half to hang on for a famous win.
New Zealand had their pride dented on Tuesday when they lost narrowly to Japan and in the process lost their star player Sonny Bill Williams when his Achilles went pop. And they were unable to bounce back against GB, who ran in three tries to the All Blacks three. The difference was one missed conversion.
The All Blacks, winners of 12 of the 17 World Rugby Sevens series, had all the ball for the first three minutes but when GB won it back there was a wonderful break from Dan Norton, sidestepping some tackles and bouncing off another, to create space out wide. GB moved the ball to Mark Bennett who spotted space in behind the regrouping All Blacks, chipped, gathered and scored.
James Davies added another moments later after a cute inside pass from Dan Bibby to give GB a 14-0 lead. Team GB couldn’t believe their luck moments later when Norton gathered a clever grubber near the left touchline and dived over to make it 21-0 at half-time, all three scores having been converted.
The weather was more Rhyl than Rio, a stark contrast to Saturday when Rugby Sevens made its Olympic debut and when temperatures were in the low 30s but GB were sizzling.
Britain had beaten Kenya and Japan, narrowly, on Tuesday to put themselves in good heart approaching the All Black bash but no one could have foreseen a half as one-sided.
The All Blacks pulled a try back two minutes into the second half through Rieko Ioane but missed the converstion to make it 21-5. GB were given further cause for concern when New Zealand picked holes in the defence allowing Regan Ware to touch down: 21-12 with two minutes to go.
The All Blacks piled on the pressure and GB cracked allowing Lewis Ormond through with a minute on the clock. Gillies Kaka nailed the kick to make it a nailbiting 21-19 with just 15 seconds to go. GB kept the ball in hand from the resulting kick off and scrambled it out of touch to record a fine win.
The misery was compounded later for the All Blacks when they were knocked out of the quarter-finals by Fiji in an ill-tempered match.
Japan beat France 12-7 thanks to a last-gasp try in the second quarter-final and South Africa smashed Australia 22-5 to set up the meeting with GB.
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