Canada women wrap-up sevens tourney at home
The women’s rugby squad had a perfect first day at Canada Sevens in Langford, BC, winning all three pool matches with absolutely no points scored against. Unfortunately a loss to France on day two knocked them out of cup contention.
A strong line of defence and buzz of home field adrenaline set the team up to score 69 points against Japan, Ireland and England on Saturday. On day two Canada narrowly lost to France in the cup quarterfinals, bumping them to play for and eventually claim the plate, known as fifth place overall.
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Team Canada celebrate a win over Ireland on day one of Canada Sevens (Photo: Lorne Collicutt).
Here is how it all went down…
Day 2 – Sunday
Plate final: Canada 21 – 5 Spain
Ghislaine Landry scores on Spain in the plate final at Canada 7s in Langford, BC on April 17 (Photo: Lorne Collicutt).
After bowing out of cup competition early in the day, Canada managed to maintain possession and focus on doing the little things right to bring home some hardware after all. Tries for Canada were scored by Ghislaine Landry, Britt Benn, and Hannah Darling with Kelly Russell and Landry (2) scoring the conversions.
Plate semifinal: Canada 27 – 0 Russia
Charity Williams fends off a tackle in a win over Russia in the plate semifinal April 17 at Canada 7s in Langford, BC (Photo: Lorne Collicutt).
After losing to France Canada came back to dominate the plate semifinal, shutting down Russia 27-0. Canada was able to hold off the Russians completely, adding another shutout to their tournament performance. Tries were scored by Benn, Karen Paquin (2), Charity Williams, and Megan Lukan. Landry added a conversion to complete the scoring.
Cup quarterfinal: Canada 12 – 14 France
Bianca Farella scores during the cup quarterfinal match against France at Canada 7s in Langford, BC on April 17 (Photo: Lorne Collicutt).
Canada took an early lead in their first match of day two, ending the first half in the lead 12-0 over France. In the second half however, control shifted to France as they scored two tries and two conversions to edge over Canada by two points in the final seconds. Tries for Canada were scored by Kayla Moleschi and Farella, with Landry scoring a single conversion.
Day 1 – Saturday
Pool match: Canada 5 – 0 England
John Tait gives a halftime pep talk during Canada 7s (Photo: Lorne Collicutt).
In the closest match of the day, Canada finished with three wins in as many matches, beating England. Canada held its ground against a one of the elite teams in the women’s game that’s sure to be strong at the Olympic Games this summer. Farella scored the lone try to win Canada’s final game of day, which sent the hosts to the cup quarterfinals on Sunday.
Pool match: Canada 26 – 0 Ireland
Kelly Russell scores a try against Ireland at Canada 7s (Photo: Lorne Collicutt).
Canada beat Ireland 26-0 for its second straight shutout of the day. Highlights included Kayla Mack scoring her first two tries of her World Rugby Sevens Series career. Also scoring were Russell and Farella. Conversions were scored by Russell and Landry (2).
Pool match: Canada 38 – 0 Japan
Britt Benn in stride at Canada 7s (Photo: World Rugby).
Canada cruised by Japan 38-0 in its opening match of the day. Tries were scored by Russell, Farella (2), Benn, Paquin, and Moleschi. Conversions were scored by Russell (2) and Landry (2).
