A hat-trick from double Olympian Jasmine Joyce powered Great Britain to gold in their Fast Four final against USA at the opening round of the World Rugby Sevens Series in Vancouver.
The 25-year-old, who was one of the stars of the Tokyo Games with seven tries, crossed the whitewash for her first try after just 30 seconds as she showed her blistering pace.
Her second came a minute later after dancing around two defenders and. having also played a role in Emma Uren’s try, Joyce completed her treble with a straightforward run-in.
Grace Crompton and Amy Wilson Hardy also dotted down for GB in their 34-12 win over USA, leaving co-captain Abbie Brown proud of her team’s progression during the event.
“It’s amazing as this squad only had two sessions before we came out here so when you put in performances like that, it’s kind of unbelievable,” said the two-time Olympian.
“It shows a lot about our heart and our grit as a squad. It’s an exciting week and it gets back up again next weekend so that’s just the exciting thing about this tournament.
“If you come out and do one performance that’s great but to back it up five times is even better and that’s what we spoke about - each day we’ve got to get better.
"That’s what we did. If you look at our first game against Mexico, it wasn’t pretty but we’ve come now to our fifth game and it’s getting better and we’re clicking as a squad.”
#MondayMotivation 🇬🇧#GB7s #Canada7s pic.twitter.com/UjPuJaJ4MR
— GB Rugby Sevens (@GBRugbySevens) September 20, 2021
GB started the Fast Four event with a comfortable 39-0 win over Mexico before defeating hosts Canada 19-5 as Joyce opened her account with the first try of the contest.
An impressive 41-12 win over USA - who they beat in the Olympic quarter-finals in Tokyo - in their final Pool match set up a semi-final rematch with Mexico, which resulted in a comprehensive 43-0 triumph.
And having scored against Mexico, Joyce bagged three more in the rematch with USA in the final to secure a memorable victory for GB and take her overall Fast Four try tally to six.
Welsh sensation Joyce is joined at the top of the try-scorer chart by GB team-mate Crompton - who scored a brace in the semi-final win over Mexico - as well as the USA’s Jaz Gray.
“It’s absolutely brilliant,” said Joyce. “I think it was unfortunate we didn’t get to play in front of a crowd in Tokyo but to come out here and play in front of over 12,000 people is brilliant.
“Especially for the new girls coming in, they’ve probably never played in front of crowd like that and every single one of them stepped up and we’re proud of all of them.
“I had a rest the first game so I was fresh and while I scored the tries, everyone else did the hard work so it’s a privilege to play outside of these guys and I’m absolutely buzzing.”
Great Britain’s men also came away from Vancouver with a bronze medal as tries from Calum Randle (2), Frederick Roddick and Paddy Kelly secured a 24-14 win over Ireland.
GB beat Jamaica 24-5 and Hong Kong 31-5 before drawing their final Pool match with Ireland 7-7, setting up a quarter-final with Canada - which they comfortably won 31-5.
They appeared on course to reach to final after taking a 12-7 lead against South Africa in their semi-final before the eventual champions responded to reach the showpiece with a 26-12 success.
But GB bounced back from missing out on the final with a superb display against Ireland in the third-place play-off to ensure they head to next week’s Edmonton stop with a bronze medal.