Beijing team apologizes for rugby scandal

The Beijing women's rugby sevens team on Tuesday night apologized for throwing a match at the 12th Chinese National Games.

Beijing had been widely favored for the women's gold in rugby sevens' debut at the National Games, but Shandong scored two tries to jump 10-0 up soon after the start of the final in the afternoon.

The Spanish umpire awarded Shandong another try in the second half, a decision which Beijing players claimed "wrong". The Beijing players then refused to play and stood still on the pitch, only to see their opponents score easily and eventually win by a scoreline of 71-0.

"We totally lost our composure during the match. Our inappropriate behavior tarnished the images of rugby and the National Games. We sincerely apologize for it," the Beijing team said in a statement.

It came just hours after Beijing coach Jiang Xuming alleged the umpire "biased" in favor of the Shandong team.

"It's too obvious," Jiang said angrily after the game.

But rugby's jury committee at the ongoing National Games was quick to defend the umpire.

"We've come to the conclusion that the umpire's ruling is fair and correct after our review of the match videos," the committee said in a statement.

The Beijing delegation for the 12th National Games also made a public apology.

"We respect and accept the decision of the jury committee. We've learned lessons from this incident and will not violate discipline and code of ethics in future," the delegation said in a statement.