Rio 2016: Graduates among the tries as rugby seven women close in on medal

08 August 2016

University of Bath graduates Natasha Hunt (left) and Amy Wilson Hardy (right) will be playing for a medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games on Monday after a sparkling weekend for the Team GB women’s rugby sevens team.

Four big wins – three in the group stages and a 26-7 success against Fiji in the quarter-finals – have put GB through to a last-four meeting with New Zealand (7pm BST).

Should they win, Britain will contest the gold-medal match at 11pm. Otherwise they will play for the bronze medal at 10.30pm.

Coach Education and Sports Development graduate Hunt – a World Cup winner with England in the 15-a-side game in 2014 – scored two tries as GB beat host nation Brazil 29-3 in their opening Group C match on Saturday.

Wilson Hardy, who studied Integrated Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, then scored in the opening seconds of GB’s 40-0 win over Japan before producing a dazzling length-of-the-field try in Sunday’s impressive 22-0 defeat of Canada.

After the quarter-final win over Fiji, GB head coach Simon Middleton said: “I’m really proud of the team. They showed great composure under the utmost pressure and great execution to realise their potential on the biggest stage.”

Both Hunt and Wilson Hardy represented the University of Bath Women’s Rugby team in British Universities and Colleges Sport (BUCS)competitions and were supported by the Talented Athlete Scholarship Scheme (TASS) during their time at Claverton Down.

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