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Team GB women's rugby sevens coach Simon Middleton "proud" of team

Team GB women's rugby sevens head coach Simon Middleton praises his players following their quarter-final win over Fiji at the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Team GB's women's rugby sevens head coach Simon Middleton has claimed that he is "proud" of the team after they secured a place in the semi-finals at the Rio Olympics.

Abbie Brown, Alice Richardson and Joanne Watmore scored tries in Team GB's 26-7 victory over Fiji on Sunday.

"I'm really proud of the team," Middleton told reporters. "They showed great composure under the utmost pressure, and great execution to realise their potential on the biggest stage.

"We practise restart after restart for moments like [the try from the opening kickoff]. That gets us on the front foot. I was equally impressed with the girls with how they came back [from conceding]. We hadn't conceded a try in the competition. I said to Emily Scarratt before we went out that we might concede in this, but we're going to score 30 points, so don't panic. The way that they handled themselves after going 7-7 was terrific.

"Our stingy defence is massive. Whether it's seven or XVs, it's defence that wins you games. We've been absolutely outstanding over the last couple of days and we were again against a side that are so difficult to defend against. They're probably the most difficult side to defend against because they're so unpredictable. But the best way to defend is to keep the ball, so we did that quite well."

Team GB will face New Zealand in today's semi-final.

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England team celebrates after wininng the cup final between England and South Africa during day two of the Tokyo Sevens Rugby 2015 at Chichibunomiya Rugby Stadium on April 5, 2015
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