The ugly side of sports reared its head at China's National Games and tarnished the emerging appeal of rugby sevens in the country, experts said.

In protest of the refereeing at the final against Shandong, the Beijing female rugby sevens squad threw the match in the second half, standing still on the field while surrendering its end zone to their opponent, who won by an embarrassing 71-0 on Tuesday.

The Jiangsu team's Australian coach, Adam McDonald, even got physical with Beijing coach Jiang Xuming after blaming him for inciting his players to give up.