PARIS: Defending champions New Zealand will play the United States in the semi-final of the Olympic rugby sevens tournament, but France's hopes of winning double rugby gold were dashed after losing to Canada at the Stade de France on Monday.
Another nearly sold-out crowd of 66,000 packed into the Stade de France primarily to witness the French national team's mission to emulate Antoine Dupont and the men's national team and capture gold.
But there was also disappointment: the Canadians won 19-14, qualifying for the semi-final against Australia.
The Australians outclassed Ireland 40-7 in their quarter, with Maddison Levi scoring a hat-trick to set a new women's Olympic record of 11 tries, beating the previous record of 10 set by Portia Woodman-Wickliffe at the 2016 Rio Games.
Piper Logan opened the scoring for Canada against France, quickly racing away from a scrum to score a fine individual try, converted by Chloe Daniels.
But the home team, cheered on by a roaring crowd, equalised at the half-time whistle, with Ian Jason sprinting away to score a try.
Yolaine Yengo converted this try and her own try to take the lead after a brilliant pass from Lili Dezou following a double save.
But Logan broke away to score her second, identical, try, converted by captain Olivia Apps to make it 14 points apiece with three minutes to go.
Daniels dashed French hopes when he took an unprotected blindside shot, gifting Canada their third try.
New Zealand, gold medalists at the 2021 Tokyo Games, postponed due to Covid, soundly defeated China with a score of 55-5 and will play against the United States, winners of Great Britain with a score of 17-7.
They were on target within 30 seconds, with veteran Sarah Hirini finishing off a break from Theresa Setefano.
But China roared back, Yang Feifei shooting down the line calling. When Hirini was booked for a high header, the Chinese made their numerical advantage pay when Hu Yu broke through a tense defence for a try.
New Zealand did not panic, scoring eight unanswered tries.
Five points for Jazmin Felix-Hotham, Michaela Blyde and world rugby legend Woodman-Wickliffe, in his third and final Olympics, took the score to 24-5 at half-time.
Blyde scored her seventh try of the tournament early in the second period, quickly followed by four more from Felix-Hotham, Mahina Paul (2) and Hirini in what proved to be a procession.
New Zealand's trans-Tasman rivals Australia, winners of the 2016 Rio Games, got off to a great start against Ireland.
Levi scored a hat trick in the first half in a repeat of the last group game between both teams, which the Australians won 19-14 on Monday morning.
Faith Nathan crossed to make it 26-0 at half-time, before Isabella Nasser and Bienne Terita added two more, one each, after Stacey Flood's Irish consolation try.
Great Britain took the lead in the quarter-hour through Ellie Boatman, while the United States responded through Naya Tapper after a strong performance from TikTok star Ilona Maher.
It looked like Maher might score the U.S.'s second goal as the first half expired, but a brilliant play by Jasmine Joyce eliminated her.
However, Kristi Kirche took over as the American runner-up early in the second half, followed by Sammy Sullivan, ending Britain's medal hopes and handing the United States a spot in the final four for the first time.
In the play-offs for the lower positions, Brazil's 28-22 victory over Fiji, who had won bronze at the Tokyo Games, was memorable.
Raquel Kochhann scored four tries, including the winner in injury time, sprinting from her own line; the conversion set up a play-off against Japan for ninth place.
