It was a hat-trick to the Elite Eight.
Three tries by Connor Braid of Victoria, in the 36-12 victory Monday over host Japan, saved sa国际传媒 in the men鈥檚 rugby sevens tournament of the Tokyo Olympics and gave it a quarter-final berth against New Zealand (3-0) early this morning.
Langford-based sa国际传媒 (1-2) advanced to the quarter-finals on point-differential tie-breaker, by two points over Ireland (1-2).
鈥淲e [gave] ourselves a shot,鈥� said Braid.
It looked as if a near field-length last-second converted try by Japan in defeat would prove costly for sa国际传媒 in the tiebreaker. It almost did as sa国际传媒 left itself the narrowest of leeway in the tiebreaker.
鈥淭he last try at the end really hurt us,鈥� said Braid.
But it didn鈥檛 prove fatal.
鈥淲e got back to playing like us,鈥� said Braid, of the victory over Japan.
鈥淲e set out to do a job and did that for the most part. It was about going through the process and doing the little things right. Get ball. Keep ball. Possession was key for us. We just got our first win at the Olympics. We鈥檙e not the fastest or biggest team but we have good skills and great athletes around the park. We knew we had to win and we knew we had to score points. We executed the game plan right and then hopefully [awaited the Ireland outcome in another pool] and things go our way.鈥�
They did.
sa国际传媒 almost did not overcome the hole it dug for itself in a disastrous opening day Sunday in which it lost 24-0 to Rio 2016 Olympics silver-medallist Great Britain (2-1) and 24-12 to defending Olympic-champion Fiji (3-0).
鈥淲e just didn鈥檛 play very well on Sunday. We鈥檙e capable of so much more than we put out,鈥� said Oak Bay High graduate Braid.
鈥淭here were some glimpses against Fiji but it wasn鈥檛 the full package. We screwed around with our possessions too much. Sevens is a tough game, it鈥檚 really sapping, even if you鈥檙e a great defensive unit, to defend minutes on end.鈥�
Braid took a pass from fellow-Victorian and St. Michaels University School-graduate Mike Fuailefau to open scoring for sa国际传媒 against Japan. Pat Kay of Duncan, a graduate of 颅Cowichan Secondary, also scored a try.
