Rugby Canada women finish second at London Sevens
Feature photo: Canada’s Ashley Steacy (Ian Muir/Rugby Canada)
A late charge by Australia cost Rugby Canada’s women the cup, but they acquired valuable Olympic qualifying points winning five matches at London Sevens this weekend.
Canada had a solid lead against Australia in the final at England’s Twickenham Stadium, but three tries in the second half by the Aussies turned a 12-point deficit into a 20-17 win. Canada had two tries from Kayla Moleschi – one in each half – and another from Ghislaine Landry after Ashley Steacy had made a breakthrough run in the opening frame.
A day after dominating the round robin on Saturday (more on this below), Canada won a quarterfinal against Russia 26-5 and a thrilling semifinal over regional rival United States 17-14 to earn their place in the Twickenham final. New Zealand, which had won every sevens series event thus far in the season, finished third at the expense of USA.
Head coach John Tait said “I know the girls worked really hard and it was there for them. I’m disappointed we didn’t get the win because I think we went into our shells and tried to guard the lead instead of staying on our (attacking) patterns.”
Canada’s top scorer in the sevens series Ghislaine Landry at the 2015 London Sevens (Ian Muir/Rugby Canada).
Landry was stopped from a second try just centimetres from a try to start the second half. Although Canadians got that back moments later with Moleschi, scoring just once in the half wasn’t enough against a powerful, physical side from a rugby-rich nation.”
Landry was stopped from a second try just centimetres from a try to start the second half. Although Canadians got that back moments later with Moleschi, scoring just once in the half wasn’t enough against a powerful, physical side from a rugby-rich nation.”
“Australia are a quality side and if you give them too much ball they will score against you.”
Karen Paquin above and Ashley Steacy made the dream team at 2015 London Sevens (Ian Muir/Rugby Canada).
Despite the loss to Australia, Canada picked up 18 series points for 76 total. That is the same number of overall points as Australia though the cup winners have an edge on tiebreak. Canada merely need to finish eighth or better in the last series stop in Amsterdam next weekend to earn the points needed for a historic Rio 2016 ticket to the first ever Olympic women’s rugby tournament.
Saturday
After a rocky first half in the opening match at London Sevens, Canada’s women’s rugby team bounced back for a truly dominant day.
Canada beat Russia, South Africa and England – in that order – to finish atop Pool B in the London stop of World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series. After a losing start to the first match against Russia, Canada scored 90 unanswered points on Friday to advance to the quarterfinals as the only nation to win all three matches.
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Down 12-0 at half, Canada stormed back in the second frame. First it was Britt Benn who touched down to cut the deficit to five. Then, with about a minute left in the match Bianca Farella won it with a try making it 14-12 over Russia
Canada was far more punishing in the second outing, running up the score against South Africa in a 45-0 demolition. Mandy Marchak and Kayla Moleschi each scored a pair of tries. Individual scores came from returning captain Jen Kish, Elissa Alarie and top women’s 15s player Magali Harvey.
The final match of the day was the pièce de résistance for Canada fans, up against the home team England. The Canadian women sprinted out of the tunnel and overran the English from the start. Leading scorer Ghislaine Landry got the first try, which was followed by a sensational run by Ashley Steacy where she followed up her own chip to recover the ball to fly in for the score. In the second half Karen Paquin scored two tries and Farella poured salt in the wound for a massive 31-0 final.
Canada faces Russia again, this time in the cup quarterfinals on Saturday as both teams chase valuable Olympic qualifying points. Canada is second overall in the women’s sevens series, Russia is seventh. The top four nations automatically earn an Olympic spot for Rio 2016 at the end of the season, which finishes in Amsterdam next weekend.
Elsewhere, Spain pulled off the big upset of the day, beating top-ranked New Zealand 19-15 in Pool A serving notice they can’t be taken lightly. New Zealand is the only team to have mathematically qualified for Olympic women’s rugby.
