Joe Webber tries to break a Canadian tackle. Photo / Getty
Joe Webber tries to break a Canadian tackle. Photo / Getty
The All Blacks Sevens have eased into their first Olympic semifinal, outclassing Canada at Tokyo Stadium this evening.
New Zealand made light work of their quarter-final opponents, with a trio of first-half tries proving enough to advance to the medal round with a 21-10 victory.
Coach Clark Laidlaw might havebeen left a little disappointed with the concession of two late tries but that never threatened to be any more than consolation for the Canadians.
The All Blacks Sevens will now play 2016 silver medallists Great Britain in tomorrow afternoon's semifinals, after they battled past the United States 26-21.
Four years after being bundled out in the quarter-finals by eventual champions Fiji, New Zealand never looked like suffering a repeat tonight, and two-time Olympian Regan Ware thought his side were now ready for their first taste of the medal round.
"One thing we thrive in is pressure, we've kind of implemented it into just about everything we do," he said. "So when that pressure moment does come, the boys aren't too over-energetic. We try to stay as relaxed as we can, try to do our roles and execute."
That certainly was the case in the quarter-final, a victory built on total ascendancy at the breakdown, with New Zealand winning a penalty or turnover almost every time the ball was contested on the deck.
"We were just clinical with everything we did," said Ware. "We talked about doing all the little things right, being there early for cleans, balls out in front - just the simple things."
That trend began with the opening try, coming after sustained defensive pressure near the Canadian line eventually produced a penalty that Andrew Knewstubb tapped before slipping through a hole and over the line.
The second came moments later when New Zealand counter-rucked to enable co-captain Scott Curry to easily cross. And the third try also saw Curry streak clear after a turnover, with great handling down the right too elusive for Canada to contain.
New Zealand were seemingly content to preserve their legs and their lead in the second half, occasionally relying on some physical defence to snuff out Canadian threats.
"What our team is good at is thriving on defence as well," Ware said. "Obviously we want to tidy up a few penalties and turnovers, but at the end of the day we thrived defensively.
"We almost take more pride out of our defence than our attack."
The only real blemish came when the game had already been won, with Pat Kay and Harry Jones salvaging something for Canada from a one-sided game.
The favourable quarter-final match-up showed the benefit of the All Blacks Sevens advancing unbeaten from pool play, with a nervy 14-12 win over Australia earlier this afternoon following victories over South Korea and Argentina on the opening day.
