Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team moves on to Round 3 of World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger

Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team finished third in the second round of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger on Saturday, securing their spot in the next round set to take place next month in Krakow, Poland.

For the second weekend in a row, Canada faced Germany in the semi-finals. With Germany up 14-0 in the sixth minute, Morgan Di Nardo scored to get Canada on the board, his try converted by Brenden Black to put the game at 14-7 for Germany at half-time.

Germany added two more tries in the second half, with Michael Laplaine-Pereira scoring in the final minute of play for Canada, the conversion kicked by Ethan Turner. With Germany taking the win 24-14, Canada’s moved on to the third place play-off.

Di Nardo was once again the first try scorer for Canada with Black kicking the conversion. Japan scored in the fourth minute, but Black scored off an offload from Turner, converting his own try to give Canada a 14-5 lead. A third Canadian try came in the final minute of the first half, with Turner converting his own try as well to put Canada up 21-5 at half-time.

Japan scored in the corner in the tenth minute, with a yellow card assessed to Kal Sager on the play. Japan was unable to score with the player advantage however, with Kyle Tremblay instead furthering Canada’s lead, his try converted by Thomas Isherwood. Japan scored once more in the final minute of play, but Canada took the win 28-15.

“To be on the podium both rounds feels great. The players played their hearts out and we had some tight games that turned into character wins for the program,” said Head Coach Sean White. “We’ve earned our spot in Krakow, but that wasn’t the end goal for us. We must still take care of our preparation and take the necessary steps to improve over the next four weeks leading into tournament three. We’ve put ourselves in a great spot, but the job is not done yet.”

As one of the top eight placed teams from the first two rounds of the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger, Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team has qualified to progress on to round three in Krakow, Poland over April 11 to 12. The pools and schedule will be announced by World Rugby shortly.

More information on the World Rugby HSBC Sevens Challenger, including full schedules and updates scores, can be found here.