The brave new dawn of rugby sevens at the Olympic Games kicks off Saturday with women's teams from trans-Tasman rivals Australia and New Zealand fancied to be battling it out with Canada and Britain for gold.
The three-day tournament, to be followed by the men's competition, will be the first team event at the 2016 Olympics, showcasing the 12 sides who have qualified through consistent results and being the best in their continent.
It will be the first time since 1924 that rugby has been played at the Olympics and the debut for sevens, the previous four incarnations featuring 15-a-side tournaments.
While the men's tournament is set to be one of the hardest to call, with six different countries having won over the 10-leg series last season, the women?s is slightly more polarised in terms of competitiveness.
Top seeds Australia will play the United States, Fiji and Colombia in Pool A while New Zealand, France, Spain and Kenya contest Pool B. Canada, Britain, Brazil and Japan complete the field in Pool C.
The top two teams from each pool qualify for the knockout rounds, along with the two best third-placed sides at the 15,000-capacity Deodoro stadium.
"As a collective it's incredible how far teams have come in the last few years," said Canada's Ghislaine Landry, last season's leading points scorer on the Sevens Series with 158pts.
"The speed, the tackling and the quality and style of attack are better than they've ever been."
The ramifications of sevens' inclusion in the Olympics was also not lost on Landry, whose side are ranked third after Australia and the Kiwis.
"When we go to tournaments now, there are kids everywhere and they are excited about rugby," she said.
"Five years ago that was almost non-existent, especially in Canada. We are seeing this buzz and this is going to be a huge push forward."
Australia will be aiming to wrap up a highly successful 2016, having already clinched the series title.
"The World Series is progressing at such a rapid rate that the standard is increasing really well. You can't come up against any team and be complacent," said Wallaby Chloe Dalton.
"Everybody coming into the Games is going to whip out a few new tricks. We are expecting the unexpected."
- 'Green machine' ready to roll -
One of Australia's stars is 23-year-old flyer Ellia Green, a former track runner who dreamt of competing in the Olympics in athletics.
"That was always a dream of mine since I was five years old. I had (posters of) a lot of Olympic sprinters like Usain Bolt up in my room. It was something I wanted to achieve, so to be here for rugby sevens is unexpected but a dream come true," Green said.
"It was a great achievement to win the world series. We are just moving on to the next job and the bigger picture - that gold medal and performing to our best capability."
New Zealand, the 2014-15 sevens series champions and second seeds, are also a formidable team with the powerful and pacey ex-netballer Portia Woodman the top try scorer in the latest series with 24 tries.
In the fight for semi-final spots, an Emily Scarratt-led Britain, the United States, France and ever-improving Fiji are all considered serious contenders.
"The Olympics is, in my opinion, the greatest sporting stage there is," said Scarratt, who notched up 16 points in the final to help England to 15s World Cup glory in Paris in 2014.
"To have the opportunity to one, go there and two, medal would be phenomenal," the goal-kicking centre said.
by Luke Phillips
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