Rugby Canada – Largest sell-out crowd in Canadian Rugby history of 38,058 fans on hand as Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team emphatically defeats Scotland, Russia before narrow one-point loss to New Zealand; Will face South Africa at 11:08am PT in the Cup Quarter-Finals

VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA – Canada’s Men’s Rugby Sevens Team secured a place in the HSBC Canada Sevens cup quarterfinals after finishing day one with a 2-1 record. 

In front of more than 38,000 fans at BC Place in downtown Vancouver, which is a sell-out and the largest crowd in Canadian Rugby history, Canada beat Scotland and Russia to advance before narrowly losing 15-14 to New Zealand in the day’s final game. Canada will now face South Africa at 2:08pm ET/11:08am PT LIVE on www.worldrugby.org.

What head coach Damian McGrath said:

“Three of the last four tournaments we’ve got to the quarterfinals so we’ve proved we’re a top eight team. We’re disappointed to just get to the quarterfinals now so we need to take that next step. I wouldn’t put anything past us tomorrow. To come out and compete like we did against New Zealand with nine fit players, it tells a story about how committed the players are and as a team they want to do well.”

CANADA 28-10 SCOTLAND

In front of a passionate home crowd, Canada got its HSBC Canada Sevens campaign off to a thunderous start. Justin Douglas, who was the odd man out last year, opened the scoring for Canada after a heavy wave of pressure before Adam Zaruba extended the lead to 14-0.

After Dougie Fife got Scotland on the board, Canada pushed their lead to 21-5 at the break as captain Harry Jones got in on the scoring. Isaac Kayy had Canada’s lone second half try either side of scores from Scott Wight and Ally Miller but Canada were rarely threatened late on to open the day with a win.

CANADA 26-5 RUSSIA

Canada marched into the cup quarterfinals after Adam Zaruba’s hat-trick. In a tight first half, Canada took a 7-5 lead into the break after Zaruba’s try cancelled out Eduard Filatov’s opening try.

However, Canada dominated the second half with Isaac Kaay pushing Canada’s lead to 14-5 before Zaruba’s two tries sealed himself a hat-trick and a place in the cup quarters.

CANADA 14-15 NEW ZEALAND

New Zealand squeaked out a narrow win over Canada to take Pool D. Canada took an early lead as Harry Jones took Adam Zaruba’s offload in for the opening try. However, Vilimoni Koroi and Scott Curry gave New Zealand a slender 10-7 advantage at the break.

A second Koroi try pushed the New Zealand to 15-7 and despite a last gasp Zaruba try, Canada were narrowly beaten by a point.

Canada’s Men’s Sevens Squad for Canada Sevens (Name, club, hometown):

Phil Berna – (UBC Thunderbirds) Vancouver, BC

Luke Bradley – UVic Vikes/Port Alberni Black Sheep (Port Alberni, BC)

Justin Douglas – (Abbotsford RFC/BC Bears) Abbotsford, BC

Mike Fuailefau – (Castaway Wanderers/BC Bears) Victoria, BC

Lucas Hammond – (UVIC Vikes) Toronto, ON

Nathan Hirayama – (UVic Vikes/BC Bears) Richmond, BC

Harry Jones – Captain (Capilano RFC) Vancouver, BC

Isaac Kaay  – (UVic Vikes) Kamloops, BC

Pat Kay – (Castaway Wanderers/BC Bears) Duncan, BC

Luke McCloskey – (Castaway Wanderers) Victoria, BC

John Moonlight – (James Bay AA/Ontario Blues) Pickering, ON

Matt Mullins – (Queen’s University/Ontario Blues) Belleville, ON

Adam Zaruba – (Capilano RFC/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC

Canada’s Canada Sevens Day 1 Schedule:

Canada 28-15 Scotland 

Canada 26-5 Russia

Canada 14-15 New Zealand 

Canada’s Canada Sevens Day 2 Schedule:

Canada vs. South Africa — 2:08pm ET/11:08am PT

About Rugby Canada

Rugby Canada is the national governing body of the sport of rugby union in Canada.  Rugby Union has a long history in Canada dating back to its initial appearance in the 1860s.  Since 1974, Rugby Canada has been a permanent fixture on the global rugby scene, including trips to each of the eight Men’s Rugby World Cups and seven Women’s Rugby World Cups. As a regular on the Men’s and Women’s HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, Canada continues to climb the world rankings and challenge the dominant rugby nations in both versions of the game.  Canada’s Women’s Rugby Sevens Team also made history in 2016, capturing the first-ever Bronze Medal at the Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.

Rugby Canada has also put a renewed emphasis on developing its junior programs to support the growth of rugby at the grass-roots level and to ensure there are elite programs for prospering young rugby players to become involved.  Our goal is to develop and train competitive teams for the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup in Ireland, the 2018 Sevens World Cup in San Francisco, the 2019 Men’s Rugby World Cup in Japan and 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Tokyo.

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Bryan Kelly  I  Manager, Communications and Media Relations  I  Rugby Canada  I  3024 Glen Lake Road  I Langford, British Columbia, Canada V9B 4B4  I  Tel. 250.418.8998 ext. 314  I  Fax 250.386.3810  I Cell. 250.216.5272 | bkelly@rugbycanada.ca I www.rugbycanada.ca