Canada on to the knockout rounds in Cape Town

Canada finished pool play and started the knockout rounds in Cape Town on Saturday, with Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team losing in the quarterfinals to move on to the fifth place semi finals, and Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team progressing on to the ninth place quarter finals.

The women’s team played Japan in their final Pool C match, and while Japan opened scoring and led 7-0 at the break, Olivia Apps responded in the eighth minute of play. Krissy Scurfield followed this up with a powerful run off a wraparound play to give Canada the lead at 14-7. Japan managed to score once more in the twelfth minute, but Charity Williams helped seal the deal for Canada with the game’s final try. Apps was perfect on all three conversions, and Canada finished with a 21-12 win.

Finishing third in their pool with one win, one loss and one tie, Canada qualified for the quarter finals, where they faced a strong New Zealand roster. A great offload from Apps to Fancy Bermudez opened scoring in the third minute, but New Zealand responded with eight unanswered tries. Playing with a short bench, Canada made a valiant effort against the 2022 Rugby World Cup Sevens runner-up, and will now play in the fifth place semi finals.

Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team closed pool play with two losses, starting with a close 19-12 game against France. The game remained scoreless until the seventh minute, with France breaking the stalemate first, scoring two tries and one conversion to take a 12-0 lead going into the second half.

Brock Webster scored his first try of the 2023 Sevens Series, followed by a conversion, to open the final seven minutes, evading the French defence to get Canada on the board. With just a minute remaining, Lockie Kratz scored a try in the corner off a pass from Webster to tie the game. France secured the win on the final play, adding seven points with a try and a conversion.

Fiji scored first in the men’s team’s final Pool A match, with Josiah Morra and Webster giving Canada a try and a conversion to briefly take a 7-5 lead in the fourth minute. Fiji took back the lead two minutes later, before Canada capitalized on a yellow card to Sevuloni Mocenacagi, with Phil Berna scoring a try to give Canada a 12-10 lead at the break.

Fiji took control of the second half, scoring four tries and three conversions. An offload from D’Shawn Bowen to Morra gave Canada one final try, bringing the final score to 36-17.

Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team will play in the fifth place semi finals against France on Saturday December 10 at 10:44 p.m. PT / Sunday December 11 at 1:44 a.m. ET. Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team returns to action in the ninth place quarter finals against Australia on Sunday December 11 at 12:18 a.m. PT / 3:18 a.m. ET.

Broadcast coverage of the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series is available in Canada via CBC. All events are available to live stream via cbcsports.ca, the CBC Sports app, and the free CBC Gem streaming service.

For the latest scores, results and schedule, visit the official website: world.rugby/sevens-series.