Team USA’s rugby squad will begin the hunt for their first-ever Olympic medal when the Paris Games’ rugby sevens tournament takes the pitch on Sunday.
This marks just the third time the Olympics have featured rugby sevens after its debut at the 2016 Rio Games.
How the Olympic rugby sevens tournament works
Unlike traditional rugby’s 15-player teams and 40-minute halves, rugby sevens consists of squads of seven battling it out through two seven-minute halves. Reflecting the sport’s sped-up nature, the Olympic rugby sevens tournament is played over just three consecutive days.
Twelve teams divided into three groups of four will compete in round-robin pool play to earn points — three for a win, two for a draw, and one for a loss — from Sunday, July 28th through the first half of Monday, July 29th.
The two teams with the most points in each group plus the next two overall best teams then advance to Monday afternoon’s quarterfinals.
On Tuesday, July 30th, teams knocked out of the playoffs will face off in “placing” matches to achieve an official Olympic rating. These…
