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Les Samoans et les Fidjiennes ont décroché leur billet pour les Jeux olympiques de Paris 2024 lors de l’Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship 2023 à Brisbane.
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Les Samoa de Brian Lima feront ainsi leurs débuts olympiques en France l’année prochaine après avoir bouclé un week-end impressionnant en battant la Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée 24-0 lors de la finale du tournoi masculin dimanche 12 novembre.
Un peu plus tôt au Ballymore Stadium, les Fijiana s’étaient assurées de leur place à Paris en remportant 54-0 la finale du tournoi féminin, également contre la Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée.
Ni les Samoans ni les Fidjiennes n’ont pu doubler leur qualification avec le titre de champions du Oceania Sevens, puisque les All Blacks Sevens et l’Australie ont remporté les finales respectives du championnat organisé à Brisbane du 10 au 12 novembre.
La quête d’une qualification olympique se poursuit pour les joueurs et les joueuses de Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée, ainsi que pour les joueurs des Tonga et les joueuses des Samoa, qui participeront au Tournoi de Qualification Olympique Final en 2024 après avoir terminé le Oceania Rugby Sevens Championship en tant que deuxième et troisième nations non qualifiées les mieux classées dans chacun des tournois.
Les Samoans n’ont pas laissé passer leur chance
Les Samoa avaient manqué la qualification olympique automatique via les World Rugby Sevens Series 2023 d’un seul point et n’étaient pas d’humeur à laisser passer une autre opportunité à Brisbane.
Après avoir ouvert leur campagne dans la poule B du tournoi masculin en battant Tuvalu 36-0 vendredi, les Samoa se sont hissés en finale avec un bilan parfait de quatre victoires en quatre rencontres, sans avoir concédé le moindre point.
Les Îles Salomon ont été battues 50-0 avant de marquer 52 points contre les Samoa américaines et de s’imposer 46-0 contre les Îles Cook.
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Ces résultats ont ouvert la voie à une finale masculine contre la Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée, dont le résultat le plus marquant du week-end a été une victoire à l’arraché 24-21 sur les Tonga lors de la première journée.
Les Samoa ont toutefois fait en sorte que la finale soit beaucoup plus simple à gérer, en s’imposant 24-0 au Ballymore Stadium pour mettre fin à leur attente d’une qualification olympique.
Les hommes de Brian Lima ont ensuite disputé la finale du championnat de Brisbane contre la Nouvelle-Zélande, mais c’était sans compter sur les All Blacks Sevens qui ont remporté le titre en s’imposant 24-19 après prolongation.
Les Fidjiennes se rattrapent
Les Fidjiennes, médaillées de bronze à Tokyo, avaient été devancées par l’Irlande dans la course à la qualification automatique lors des Series 2023, mais elles n’ont pas laissé cette déception les affecter à Brisbane.
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Les Fidji n’ont concédé que cinq points lors de leurs trois matchs de poule, battant les Îles Cook 50-0, les Tonga 38-5 puis les Samoa américaines débutantes 68-0 en route vers les demi-finales du tournoi féminin.
Les Samoa ont ensuite été battues 42-0 en demi-finale, préparant un match décisif contre la Papouasie-Nouvelle-Guinée au Ballymore Stadium.
Les Fidjiennes ont assuré leur retour aux Jeux de Paris l’année prochaine grâce à une impressionnante victoire 54-0 dans le match décisif.
La victoire a également permis aux Fijiana de se qualifier pour la finale du championnat contre l’Australie, mais elles ont été battues 26-0 par les championnes olympiques de 2016.
Liste des équipes qualifiées pour le tournoi olympique masculin
Nouvelle-Zélande, Fidji, Australie, France, Argentine, Irlande, Kenya, États-Unis, Uruguay et Samoa.
Liste des équipes qualifiées pour le tournoi olympique féminin
Nouvelle-Zélande, Australie, France, Brésil, Canada, Grande-Bretagne, Irlande, Afrique du Sud, États-Unis et Fidji.
Photos : Oceania Rugby Union
Comments on RugbyPass
A great game. The Sharks without Etsebeth are a shadow of the team compared to when he plays. The limitations of Some of the expensive Sharks players are being exposed. Credit to Clermont for some exhilaration play at times.
3 Go to comments100% Mr Owens. But who would want to be a referee.? It must be the most difficult job on earth.
1 Go to commentsStarts to be overdone and oversold this systematic SA narrative…which nevertheless has the merit in this case to recognise blatant refereeing mistakes in their favor
3 Go to commentsNice article. Shades of Steinbeck. They can win the final if they take the game seriously; but only if they take it seriously.
3 Go to commentsWhat a sad way to end a glittering career. Somebody should tell him to delete his social media accounts and face the consequences of what he's done. Then he should slip away quietly into obscurity. This isn't likely to happen, something tells me he'll be back in The Sun / Daily Mail sooner rather than later.
3 Go to commentsguys its fine! he understands why he did what he did and has taken accountability for it; why should he have to be accountable to a court? after all he did was abuse people in person - its not as if he was engaging in _online_ abuse!
3 Go to commentsChiefs flanker Kaylum Boshier yellow-carded for collapsing the scrum as it rolled towards the line. It was a maul….
1 Go to commentsyou know, i’m a leinster fan so I want Northampton to lose and it is gonna be tuff with Cortney lawes, Alex michell and the other guys🏉 lets go leinster🏉
1 Go to commentsWelcome to the Pro ranks. Those hard teams of old do hit the sole better though. its a dog fight at the top.
6 Go to commentsCan someone fill me in please, I've read a number of Ben Smith articles now and it seems he's got something again South Africa? Surely, this game was over and done with 7 months ago. Can't we have something a bit more interesting and relevant, or is this the calibre of journalist on this site?
228 Go to commentsNot sure what the Welsh are moaning about. They’ve had far more players off England, than England have had off Wales. Guys like Josh Hathaway and Kane James will play for Wales in the end. And they’ll be fsr better players for having played in the Gallagher Premiership, than they ever would have been had they stayed mired in the shambles that is Welsh rugby.
4 Go to commentsThis is all being blown totally out of proportion. First of all, since half the Irish team isn’t Irish - it’s very likely that none of the Irish players said that at all and, thus, we’re not being arrogant. Second, since half the Irish team is Kiwi - it’s very likely the Kiwi players were predicting a NZ SA World Cup final. Which they got spot on. Good on them!
163 Go to commentsAha. An Irishman with logic! Follow the flow: - Ireland peaks with a >80% win record between 2020 and 2023. And then… - crashes out of another QF at the WC; - Beat a poor French Team; - Beat 6N wooden spoonists Italy; - Play shite against eventual wooden spoonists Wales; - Lose against the most boring, “the worst English team ever” , a team widely regarded as unable to attack; - scrape through against Scotland. This article, No - Trimble, is on the money! Except for one glaring statement: _The Springboks have a few aces in the hole in this debate being the reigning world champions and official world number ones_ There is no debate, boys and girls. There it is. In black and white. “Reigning World Champions and OFFICIAL world number ones”. Come July, the overrated Andy Farrell and this overhyped team are going to enter into a world of hurt.
87 Go to commentsI’d like to know what homoerotic events Daniel enjoyed at 8th man. I clearly missed out!
19 Go to commentsThis article is missing some detail, like some actual context or info about what led to him abusing the ref.
2 Go to comments*They used to say that football is a gentleman sport watched by hooligans and rugby is a hooligan sport watched by gentlemen. How times have changed.*
3 Go to commentsexcept ot wasnt late wasnt late at all so dont know why you all saying its late he commits early and its your fault fir not paying attention
30 Go to commentsNot sure the Bulls need another average utility back in their ranks. Chamberlain has been ok for the Sharks but is by no means an X-Factor player. Bulls bought several utility backs which they barely use. A typical example would be Henry Immelman who plays mostly Fullback. The Bulls however have rarely played him this year and he has played wing or centre. Bulls want to build depth but seems like they have too many surplus players
1 Go to commentsABs lost against a side playing without a hooker - The guy playing, had one shoulder. Line outs were a gimme for the ABs, and the last 8 minutes 14 played 14 against a team that had been smashed 3 weeks in a row… Yet with all that possession, with all that territory, with all the advantages they actually had, especially in the last 8 minutes, they couldn’t buy a point. Those last 8 minutes determined if they outplayed the Boks or not. History will show that the Boks completely outplayed the ABs, especially in those last 8 minutes, the business end of any rugby match
228 Go to commentsWould’ve, could’ve, should’ve, didn’t.
228 Go to comments