Canada’s Women’s and Men’s Sevens teams continue competition at Commonwealth Games

Canada’s Senior Women’s and Men’s Sevens teams returned to action at the 2022 Commonwealth Games on Saturday as they closed out their pool play matches before entering into quarter- and semi-final action at Coventry Stadium in Birmingham, England.

Both teams finished with a win and a loss on Day 2 in Birmingham and will return to play on Sunday morning.

WOMEN’S MATCH 11 (POOL A): CANADA 74-0 SRI LANKA

Day 2 of Sevens action got off to a quick start for the Canadians, with coach Jack Hanratty’s group scoring early and often in a dominant 74-0 performance to close out pool action.

A shallow kick from Canadian captain Breanne Nicholas allowed the Canadians to take advantage early, with Krissy Scurfield registering her first try of the match within a minute of kick off. Scurfield would finish the match with five tries in total.

Scurfield’s performance was supplemented with tries from teammates Olivia de Courveur, Piper Logan, Nakisa Levale and Keyera Wardley. Nicholas and Olivia Apps added five and a pair of conversions, respectively, in a commanding 74-0 win to send them to the semi-finals.

MEN’S MATCH 23 (POOL C): CANADA 24-12 ZAMBIA

In contrast to their female counterparts, Canada saw opponent Zambia jumping ahead early with just their second try in competition for an early 5-0 lead. A pair of tries from Canada’s Josiah Morra erased both of Zambia’s first half leads and saw both teams heading into the break in a 12-12 deadlock.

D’Shawn Bowen and teammate Nick Allen added tries of their own in the second half, as Henry Paul’s side found their footing and took advantage of a shorthanded Zambia side to secure a 24-12 victory and book their ticket to the men’s quarter-finals.

WOMEN’S SEMI-FINAL: CANADA 7-24 FIJI

Coming off a decisive win earlier in the day, Canada’s women’s side found themselves in a challenging position after Fiji opened their semi-final match against the Canadians with three consecutive tries and a 17-0 lead. Despite the disadvantage on the scoreboard, Canada began to shift the run of play and capitalized late in the first half to cut the Fiji’s lead to 10 heading into the break. 

Canada was on the front foot for the majority of the second half and looked poised to take advantage of a tired looking Fiji side, but could not connect on their offensive chances to narrow the lead. Fiji would add one more try as time ran out to move on into the finals with a 24-7 win.

MEN’S QUARTER-FINAL: CANADA 0-33 SOUTH AFRICA

Canada’s men’s team battled hard in their quarter-final match but couldn't solve the defence of South Africa on Saturday. The Springboks’ spread out their offence in the match, receiving tries from Angelo Davids, Christie Grobbelaar, Mfundo Nahlovu and Ronald Brown (2). Brown also added a pair of conversions, with teammates Selvyn Davids and Dewald Human rounding out the conversion scores.

South Africa has yet to allow a second half score from any opponent during this year’s Commonwealth Games.

On Sunday, Canada’s men’s team will return to the pitch to face Samoa at 7:20am ET/4:20am PT, while the women face New Zealand at 2:50pm ET/11:50am PT. Watch all the games live on CBC Sports.