The Chinese girls' rugby ­sevens team clinched the bronze ­medal at the Nanjing Youth Olympic Games on Wednesday, with a 12-0 win over the US.

Thanks to the opening try from Gao Yueying at 1:35 into the second half, China took the lead and never looked back. Shen Yingying added another two points from a conversion following Gao's try and then scored a try herself five minutes later.

"We finished our mission," Gao said. "It taught me what tenacity means."

Due to the physicality of rugby games, many consider the girls to be nühanzi, or manly females, but Gao said it differs on and off the pitch.

"On the pitch we may be nühanzi, but off that we are just girls, we also wear makeup," Gao revealed with a smile on her face.

Rugby sevens has been admitted into the program of the Olympic Games from Rio 2016, with the matches in the 2014 Youth Games its debut in an Olympic program.

China's coach Yuan Feng said all the other teams are more competitive than his side, but jet lag ate into their fitness in earlier games.

"Their athletes started playing rugby when they were children, but ours were teenagers," Yuan said. "I think jet lag confined them in the earlier stage, but they started to find their form after several games."

Yuan added that Chinese players are physically inferior to the European and American players, which added further ­difficulty for his side. The current national team players mostly switched over from ­other sports such as athletics and wrestling.

The coach said Monday's group game against the US, which China won 29-7, built his team's confidence. The ambition of his team to win a medal on home soil also contributed to the victory, believed Yuan.

Yuan told the Global Times that the national team competing in the Youth Olympic Games is an excellent chance to promote rugby in China.

"People encounter rugby at the Youth Olympic Games, which they may not often watch before," Yuan said.

"It's really a milestone for China."

The man at the helm of the girls' team is already eyeing more success of the team in ­future events.

"If these girls can keep good form and progress well, we can have a shot at the 2016 Olympic Games, and further, the 2020 Games in Tokyo," Yuan said.

There's only one berth for Asian teams in the Olympic Games in Rio. Japan and ­Kazakhstan are considered the major rivals for the Chinese team.

Also on Wednesday, Australia thrashed Canada to pocket the first-ever rugby gold medal in an Olympic event, while the boys' gold medal was seized by France in a 45-22 win over ­Argentina.