Rugby sevens teams are made up of seven players instead of 15 as in rugby union. Its shorter matches consist of two seven-minute halves. This full-contact game is played on a standard rugby union playing field measuring 100 metres by 70 metres (109.4 yards x 76.6 yards). Players run while holding the ball and cannot pass the ball forward — it can only be passed laterally or backwards. Teams score points by either kicking the ball through the goal posts or touching the ball down in the other team’s goal area.
There were lots of volunteers along the way to let us know where to go.
 |
| Thanks, Bea! |
We got there about 3pm, which is when the doors open. Though we had tickets and knew what section we were in (224), the seats were general seating (first come, first serve). We ended up with great seats ... in the front row in the second level.
 |
| The line to get in moved pretty quickly |
Pachi the porcupine is the Pan Am mascot ... he has 41 colourful quills to represent the 41 countries in the games.
There were eleven games in total this afternoon. Though they were fun to watch, we were most interested in the games in which Canada was playing.
Canada and USA played to see who was going to go to the gold medal match.
Needless to say, the 18,000 fans in the stadium were mostly Canadian.
And the game began ...
It's a funny game. When someone gets hurt, they keep playing, even though medics are rushing to the injured player. When there is a stop in play, paramedics have a chance to bring out a stretcher and then take the player away.
 |
| Alas, a Canadian player got hurt :( |
Canada beat USA 26 - 19 and advanced to the gold medal match. Yay!
The women's team was in the gold medal match against USA.
The national anthems were sung.
And the game began ...
The final game was the men's gold medal match ... Canada vs Argentina.
The national anthems were sung.
And the game began ...
And Canada won 22 - 19! The men won gold!
Canada's women's team was waiting to congratulated the men's team after they made the victory loop around the stadium.
The medals (and a Pachi) were given out. The women's were first.
 |
| USA (silver), Canada (gold) and Brazil (bronze) |
 |
| While the Canadian national anthem was being sung |
Then the men's medals were given out.
 |
| Argentina (silver), Canada (gold) and USA (bronze) |
 |
| While the Canadian national anthem was being sung |
Congrats to both Canadian teams on winning Pan Am gold!
1 comment:
Nice to see you got to go to the games. Lovely weather for it too.
Post a Comment