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RIO DE JANEIRO -- Great Britains mens rugby team will return home with a silver medal to their name and given their less than ideal build up to the Games, it is a remarkable achievement.While they were comfortably beaten in the final, the margin of defeat should not detract from what had gone before. Fiji would have beaten a world sevens dream team with that sort of performance.Heading into the Olympic Games Great Britain were an unknown quantity with form and logic weighing against their favour, yet here in Rio they found an inner belief forged from squad unity and a game plan built on sheer bloody-mindedness.The players only had four tournaments together before the Games after a World Rugby Sevens Series competing under the separate flags of England, Wales and Scotland.After meeting in May as a squad of 25, this was then whittled down to a squad featuring eight players from England, two from Wales and two from Scotland. It was a party drawing on the best resources available to coach Simon Amor and he deserves huge credit for the work done on the training pitch to bring this silver-medal charge together.I am so proud of my boys, Amor said. They gave so much, every single time, and unfortunately the last game was just one too many, but I have never seen a team play with such heart and fight.It has been amazing. We always knew we would have 10 weeks to make this work, and we had a lot of rugby in the build-up. It has been an interesting journey. We knew we had talent, and the team spirit was extraordinary.Unlike New Zealand, who had Sonny Bill Williams in their squad, and South Africa, who had a long look at Bryan Habana but eventually decided against bringing him to Rio, Great Britain did not have the scope to call on players like George North or Christian Wade. Scotlands Mark Bennett was the only capped 15s international in their squad and there was a feeling this would cost them.But instead they laughed in the face of the doubters. Before the start of the tournament USA coach Mike Friday said GBs point of difference was their guile and in captain Tom Mitchell they had one of the players of the tournament. The sweeper kept the whole squad ticking over, popping up at key moments to unleash quicker players, such as Dan Norton or Marcus Watson.Mitchell is a hugely impressive individual but around him were a group who had been thrown together, in the best sense of the phrase, to win a medal. Cross-nationality friendships were forged -- James Davies and Ollie Lindsay-Hague dubbed themselves the cub and the swan. That unity translated into performances on the pitch.After beating Kenya and Japan, they put in their best half of rugby across the three days by running up a 21-0 lead over New Zealand at halftime. They eventually won by a couple of points but then came their quarterfinal against Argentina which was locked at 0-0 at full time. After a Mitchell penalty sailed wide in extra time, Dan Bibbys try, in the fourth minute of added on time, eventually booked their place in the final four. They didnt lose focus.Against South Africa they were forced to work on a gameplan marrying resolute defence and counter-attacking rugby with Nortons try one of the best youll see. They dug in resolutely at the end to win 7-5. It was emblematic of the feeling within the group.In the final they came unstuck but Ben Ryans side put together, by his own admission, their best performance since he took the job almost three years ago. No team could have handled them but as Great Britain stood on the podium, they were united.We showed a never-say-die attitude, said Davies. We have shown it in so many games.It just sums us up as a group of players: just grinding out those wins. A team that doesnt play very well but puts in those wins is a sign of a great team. Look at these 12 [players] and that is a great team.It bodes well for this group. Itd be wonderful to see a composite Team GB team compete on the World Series next year but that is one for the various powers that be.Tonight they will feel that small pang of sadness at having lost the final but can feel hugely proud of everything they have achieved.Everyone has worked so hard, and it has been an amazing journey. It is a nice little way to finish it with a silver medal, Mitchell said. There were those who thought we wouldnt do so well out here, and we knew we had to come here and scrap. We knew it was about working hard.The silver medal is just reward for their remarkable effort. Starling Marte Jersey . Perhaps Carroll was so prepared for a break because he believes there is very little the Seattle Seahawks need heading into the off-season. "I dont see anything that we need to add. 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DETROIT -- Miguel Cabreras homer broke a seventh-inning tie, and the Detroit Tigers rallied for a crucial 9-6 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Wednesday night.The Tigers trailed 5-2 in the fourth inning, but came from behind to pull one game behind Toronto for the second AL wild card.Ian Kinsler had four hits, finishing a homer short of the cycle, and drove in three runs while scoring two. Brian Dozier and Kurt Suzuki homered for the Twins.Both starting pitchers made early exits. Minnesotas Tyler Duffey allowed six runs in 3 2/3 innings, while Anibal Sanchez gave up six in four-plus.Shane Greene (5-4) got the win, while Ryan Pressly (6-7) took the loss after surrendering Cabreras homer.Bruce Rondon pitched the eighth for Detroit, while Francisco Rodriguez put up a perfect ninth for his 42nd save.After Sanchez struck out the side in the first, Kinsler and Cameron Maybin gave the Tigers the lead with back-to-back doubles in the bottom of the inning. Kinslers RBI single in the second doubled the lead.Sanchez retired the first nine batters in order, but Dozier launched his first pitch of the fourth into the left-field stands for his 41st homer. The next three batters singled, with Kennys Vargas driving home Jorge Polanco to tie the game.Suzuki then made it 5-2 with a homer down the left-field line, but the Tigers came back in the bottom of the inning. Andrew Romine had an RBI single before Kinsler and Maybin hit back-to-back triples to tie the game.J.T. Chargois replaced Duffey and allowed a tiebreaking single to Cabrera, but Sanchez couldnt hold the lead. He walked Byron Buxton to start the fifth and Dozier followed with a double to make it 6-6.Alex Wilson got out of the inning without further damage, and the two bullpens were able to settle the game down until Cabreras homer off Pressly with one out in the seventh.The Tigers added two more runs in the eighth on Kinslers second RBI single and a wild pitch.ddddddddddddTRAINERS ROOMTwins: 3B Miguel Sano missed his second straight game with back stiffness. Hes expected back for Minnesotas weekend series against the Mets. . Suzuki left the game in the eighth injury with a lacerated chin after being hit in the mask by a foul tip.Tigers: RHP Jordan Zimmermann threw an 80-pitch simulated game Wednesday afternoon in an attempt to fix his mechanics and get back into the rotation. Due to assorted injuries, Zimmermann has only started twice since June and didnt escape the second inning either time. ... 3B Nick Castellanos (broken hand) batted once against Zimmermann before taking himself out of the lineup. He hopes to be back before the end of the regular season.ODD DEFENSIVE LINEUPZimmermann, who mostly faced September call-ups in his simulated game, didnt get a lot of help from his defense. Instead of one of baseballs best double-play combinations in Ian Kinsler and Jose Iglesias, Zimmermann had his fellow pitchers backing him up. Rookie of the Year favorite Michael Fulmer made a nice running catch on a pop up into shallow right, but Mike Pelfrey, Mark Lowe and Justin Verlander werent impressive as infielders.OLYMPIC WEEK CONTINUESFor the third straight day, an Olympic medalist from Rio threw out the first pitch. On Wednesday, it was New Zealands Nick Willis, who won the bronze medal in the 1,500-meter run. Willis spent his college career at the University of Michigan, and still lives in Ann Arbor.UP NEXTThe teams conclude their four-game series with the Tigers Mike Pelfrey (4-9, 4.76) facing the Twins Hector Santiago (11-8, 4.75). Pelfrey hasnt pitched in a big-league game since July 30 due to a back injury, and is expected to be on a 60-pitch limit. ' ' '