Canada’s Senior Women’s and Men’s Sevens teams take to the field on Day 1 of HSBC France Sevens
Rugby 7s Senior Women, Rugby 7s Senior Men
Canada’s Senior Women’s and Men’s Sevens teams took to the field on Friday as Day 1 of the HSBC France Sevens got underway at the Stade Ernest-Wallon in Toulouse.
Canada’s Senior Women’s and Men’s Sevens teams took to the field on Friday as Day 1 of the HSBC France Sevens got underway at the Stade Ernest-Wallon in Toulouse. The day was highlighted by back-to-back victories for the Women’s side and a blockbuster, last-minute win for the Men over second-placed Argentina.
Jack Hanratty’s Women’s team opened proceedings against Spain. Their opponents took an early lead via a Paula Requena try but Keyara Wardley responded immediately for Canada before Krissy Scurfield scored to give them a 14-5 half-time lead. Beatriz Dominguez went over to narrow the advantage but Wardley grabbed her second try, before Farella scored late on, to seal a 26-12 victory for Canada in their opening match.
In the Men’s event, Canada got their tournament started with a clash against England. The teams exchanged early tries through Alex Davis for England and Alex Russell for Canada. After that, England turned on the after burners as further scores from Tom Bowen, Api Bavadra and Tom Emery ensured they won the match 24-5.
Next up, the Women’s team took on Scotland. Both sides had players sent to the sin bin in the first half but neither capitalized on their numeric advantage as the match remained scoreless going into the break.
In the second half, with Canada backed up deep in their own half, Fancy Bermudez broke free and offloaded to Emma Chown who ran the length of the pitch to open the scoring. Canada doubled their lead when Scurfield used her pace on the outside to evade the Scottish defence and touch down. Rhona Lloyd responded for Scotland but it wasn’t enough to deny Canada a 14-7 victory.
The Men’s side’s second and last match of the day was against Argentina. Quick thinking and hands from Russell and Anton Ngongo at the near sideline resulted in the latter going over for the match’s opening score. Matias Osadczuk got Argentina on the board with an immediate response but Jake Thiel restored Canada’s lead just prior to half time with a powerful run from deep.
After the break, Henry Paul’s side continued to hold firm in defence, even when they went a man down after David Richard was sent to the sin bin. Their line was eventually broken, however, when Tobias Wade scored to level the match at 12-12 with under two minutes remaining. With just seconds left on the clock, a side step from Richard created all the space he needed to go over and complete a remarkable 19-12 victory.
On Saturday, the Women’s team gets underway with a clash against New Zealand at 12:52 a.m. Pacific, while the Men’s team starts Day 2 versus Japan at 4:28 a.m. Pacific. These matches will complete the Pool play and the event will then move into the knockout rounds.