Olympian compares Maddison Levi to ‘bright’ Eiffel Tower after try blitz

Rio Olympics gold medallist Alicia Lucas has compared Australia’s try-scoring phenomenon Maddison Levi to the Eiffel Tower after the 22-year-old stole the show on an already record-breaking day for women’s sevens.

With a record women’s rugby sevens crowd watching on at the modern-day Colosseum that is Stade de France, the Australians ran out the field on Sunday to begin their bid for what they hope will be an Olympic gold medal.

Australia opened their account at the Paris Games with a one-sided 34-5 win over South Africa which included a four-try haul for ‘Maddi’ Levi. The women in gold backed that up with another strong win over Ellie Kildunne’s Great Britain side.

World Rugby Guide to Rugby Sevens

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Kildunne, who is widely considered one of the world’s best in the 15-a-side game with the Harlequins and England’s Red Roses, came close to scoring the opener but was dragged down just short of the line by Levi. The Brits still managed to land the first blow through Heather Cowell.

But it was the Aussie show from there as they piled on 36 unanswered points to complete a perfect start to the Games. They’ll take on Ireland on day two knowing that they’ve already done enough to qualify for the quarter-finals.

“They are off to an absolute flyer,” former Australia sevens star Alicia Lucas said on Stan Sports’ Olympics Daily.

“It was a history-breaking day out at Stade de France – the biggest ever crowd for a female rugby sevens match. It was electric.

“I got to see them in the tunnel before they ran out, got to give them little hugs and love and all my support so that was really special for me personally.

“But the performance that they put on was absolutely golden – dominating their first match against South Africa and then following and backing that up against GB which was a rally tightly contested game.

“It was really special.”

Levi scored three phases into Australia’s first game against South Africa and didn’t look back from there. The try-scoring machine completed a first-half hat-trick in that match before crossing for another five-pointer later on.

The Queenslander, who was once drafted by the Gold Coast Suns in AFLW, backed that up with another headline-grabbing performance against Team GB. Levi scored Australia’s first two tries and crossed for another during the second half to bring up yet another hat-trick.

While fans on the SVNS Series have seen just how destructive Levi is on the rugby sevens field for a few years now, it’s still quite mesmerizing and almost unbelievable to see the Australian continue to dominate at that level.

“I was waiting for her to shine and shine that she did. She’s just like the Eiffel Tower behind us, just sparkling bright already,” Lucas explained.

“Seven tries, four in one game – I think it was four in 10 minutes in total that she got. An incredible effort from the speedster. To see her be able to perform on the big stage… that big crowd at Stade de France and all the women’s teams just embraced it.”