Team USA Finishes Sixth at the Dakar Youth Olympics, With Five Utah Players in Its Rugby Squad

Team USA's girls' rugby sevens team, with five Utah players on its 12-player roster, finished sixth of eight at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games in Senegal. The tournament ended Tuesday, Nov. 3, at the Complexe Iba Mar Diop in Dakar, where Kenya beat Australia 17-12 on a golden-point try to win gold and Madagascar beat Czechia 26-10 for the bronze medal.

The five Utahns are Hunivaololo Folau, Sophia Johnson, Lavinia Lomu, Luisa Moala and Eseta Moala, the largest group from any state on the U.S. roster. Luisa Moala, one of the team's two co-captains, was also elected by Team USA's athletes in Dakar as one of the delegation's two flag bearers for the Oct. 31 Opening Ceremony. Beehive Athletes covered their selection in Five Utah Rugby Players Make Team USA for the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games.

How did Team USA finish at the Dakar Youth Olympics?

Sixth. Team USA's medal hopes ended on the first day of the girls' tournament, Monday, Nov. 2, when Team USA lost both of its Pool B matches by a combined five points:

• Madagascar 12, USA 10. Sariaka Raveloarisoa scored the winning try in what World Rugby's sevens site called the closest game of the day.
• Czechia 24, USA 21. The last match of the day's program.

Czechia and Madagascar each won twice on day one, which put both into the semifinals with a pool round still to play. World Rugby's sevens site described the Americans as the tournament's "second seeds" and wrote that they were "sensationally out of contention."

The final pool round opened the second day, Nov. 3, with Team USA's last Pool B match, against Spain, and Madagascar finished top of the pool with a clean sweep. In the placing games, World Rugby reported, "China beat the USA to claim fifth with the Americans sixth," and Spain beat host Senegal for seventh.

Who won girls' rugby sevens gold at Dakar 2026?

Kenya. The final against Australia was level at 12-12 at full time, and Mitchelle Chemtai scored in the corner in golden-point extra time to win it 17-12, RugbyPass reported. Darci Mackay and Grace Buchanan scored Australia's tries, and Zain Hido and Josephine Kerubo scored for Kenya in regulation.

Australia reached the final by beating Czechia 19-10, and Kenya beat Madagascar in the other semifinal. Madagascar, the team that edged the U.S. on day one, took the bronze medal 26-10 over Czechia with tries from Soa Landy, Princia Ranaivoson and Raveloarisoa. World Rugby called it the first time Madagascar has won an Olympic medal at any level.

The final order of the eight-team girls' tournament:

1. Kenya, gold
2. Australia, silver
3. Madagascar, bronze
4. Czechia
5. China
6. United States
7. Spain
8. Senegal

None of the 2018 Youth Olympic medallists, New Zealand, France and Canada, was in the Dakar field.

Who are the Utah players on Team USA?

Utah Youth Rugby listed each player's club when it congratulated the five on Oct. 27. Hometowns for Folau, Johnson and Lomu come from the U.S. Olympic & Paralympic Committee's roster announcement, and Luisa Moala's from its flag-bearer announcement:

• Hunivaololo Folau, Westlake Drua, West Jordan
• Sophia Johnson, Majestics, Orem
• Lavinia Lomu, United Rugby, Orem
• Luisa Moala, Northside, Syracuse
• Eseta Moala, Northside

RugbyPass reported that the Moala sisters are both from Syracuse. The other seven players on the roster came from Idaho, Washington, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Colorado.

Luisa Moala, co-captain and flag bearer

Team USA's athletes in Dakar elected Moala and beach volleyball player Caden Phillips of Gilbert, Ariz., as the delegation's flag bearers for the Oct. 31 Opening Ceremony, the USOPC announced on Oct. 29. "When I put on the USA jersey, I'm not just wearing it for me, but for my family, everyone who has supported me back home and girls who are growing the game of rugby across the United States," Moala said in the announcement. "It's an honor to represent the United States on an international stage."

RugbyPass's roster list marks her and Pennsylvania's Abigail McGettigan as the squad's captains, and reported that she played at state and national level on her way up through the USA Pathways ranks. RugbyPass described both Moala sisters as products of Northside Girls Rugby. "I'm representing my country and everything that comes with wearing that jersey," Moala told RugbyPass.

What does Dakar mean for girls' rugby in Utah?

Utah supplied five of the 12 players on a national team in a sport its high schools do not sanction. Rugby is not sanctioned by the Utah High School Activities Association. Its 2025-26 emerging sports summary lists girls' rugby at 24 member schools, below the 32 at which a girls' sport is considered for sanctioning, so the girls' game runs through clubs such as Northside, Majestics, United Rugby and Westlake Drua.

The state already has a place in U.S. Olympic rugby history. At the Paris 2024 Olympics, Herriman High product Alex "Spiff" Sedrick scored the tying try as time expired and kicked the conversion that beat Australia 14-12 for bronze, the first Olympic medal for the U.S. women in rugby sevens. Two years later, five of the 12 players on Team USA's Youth Olympic rugby roster came from Utah clubs.

For more on the selection, the pool draw and Utah's youth rugby clubs, read the selection story. More Utah women's and girls' sports coverage is on the Utah women's sports hub.

Key facts:

• Finish: Team USA sixth of eight in girls' rugby sevens at the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, Nov. 2-3, Complexe Iba Mar Diop
• Utah players: Hunivaololo Folau (Westlake Drua), Sophia Johnson (Majestics), Lavinia Lomu (United Rugby), Luisa Moala (Northside), Eseta Moala (Northside), five of the 12 on the roster
• Pool B, Nov. 2: Madagascar 12, USA 10; Czechia 24, USA 21
• Fifth-place playoff: China beat the United States
• Medals: Kenya gold (17-12 over Australia, golden point), Australia silver, Madagascar bronze (26-10 over Czechia), Madagascar's first Olympic medal at any level per World Rugby
• Flag bearer: co-captain Luisa Moala of Syracuse, elected with beach volleyball's Caden Phillips as Team USA's Opening Ceremony flag bearers
• Utah high school status: girls' rugby is not UHSAA-sanctioned; 24 schools on the 2025-26 emerging sports list