GB sevens team outclassed by ruthless Australia

Great Britain's women will need to beat South Africa on Monday to guarantee their place in the Olympic sevens quarter-finals following a humbling 36-5 defeat by Australia.

Britain started the day with a hard-fought 21-12 win over Olympic debutants Ireland, but knew their biggest test in Pool B would come against world champions Australia.

GB took the lead after England's Six Nations star Ellie Kildunne broke through Australia's defence and Heather Cowell ended up going over for a try.

But from there on it was all Australia as the 2016 Olympic champions ran in six tries in a standout performance.

Maddison Levi, the leading try-scorer in the 2024 World Series, scored a hat-trick to add to the four tries she bagged in Australia's 34-5 thrashing of South Africa in their opening match.

Her younger sister Teagan, 20, also scored as the World Series Grand Final winners tore Britain's defence to pieces.

Meanwhile, Ireland scored six tries in a historic 38-0 win over South Africa to maintain their quarter-final hopes, with Australia to play on Monday.

Britain's win over Ireland means they are second in Pool B on head-to-head record, despite having an inferior points difference.

The top two from the three pools and the two next-best teams go through to the last eight on Monday evening.

Australia, France, New Zealand and the USA all secured quarter-final spots with two wins apiece on Sunday.

A total of 66,000 fans packed into the Stade de France to set a new record for a women’s rugby event, beating the previous best of 58,498 at Twickenham for England v France in 2023.

Australia's Maddison Levi has scored seven tries in two matches

'Better than anything I dreamed of'

Earlier, Britain fought back to beat Ireland thanks to second-half tries from winger Jasmine Joyce and captain Emma Uren.

The dynamic Amee-Leigh Murphy Crowe had given Ireland a 12-7 half-time lead, with Isla Norman-Bell scoring for Britain.

However, Ireland were celebrating in style later after securing their first Olympic sevens victory in the women's competition, with Beibhinn Parsons (two), Murphy Crowe, Stacey Flood, Vicki Elmes and Eve Higgins all touching down for tries.

Parsons said the experience of playing in a packed Stade de France at an Olympic Games was "better than anything I dreamed of."

"I wrote down that I wanted to be an Olympian when I was a child, but I did not realise what sport it would be, and definitely did not think rugby would take me here.

“I am just really privileged to be a part of the team. We know we are all the lucky ones in the dressing room.”