Rugby Canada – New team captain Ghislaine Landry leads Canada’s Women’s Sevens Teams to victories over Brazil, Spain and England in Dubai; Will face Russia in Cup Quarter-Finals 

DUBAI, UAE — Canada’s women’s sevens team has advanced to the quarterfinals of the Dubai Sevens after finishing a perfect 3-0 on day one of the Dubai Sevens, the opening leg in the 2016-17 HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series.

Canada kicked off its season with a 26-19 win over Brazil in their opening match of pool play then followed that up with a convincing 27-7 victory over Spain. That setup a match with England for top spot in the pool.

While some rust was showing in their opening match against the Brazilians, Canada looked quite polished by the end of the day, controlling a talented England squad to come away with a pool-clinching 24-12 win. It is the 21^st straight tournament Canada has advanced to a series quarterfinal.

What captain Ghislaine Landry said:

“It was a bit of a rough start in the morning but we’ve been building over the three games so that’s good.”7

“We talked about what we didn’t do well this morning and we wanted to build over the day and that’s what we did. A little bit of pride in our defense, we were pretty disappointed with the way we were tackling in that first game and that was a big one.”

“A lot of these girls have been in the program for a couple of years and just getting the opportunity to get on the field is great. A lot of them have a ton of skills and they’ve been competing against our top players so they’re good athletes.”

“We have a bit of a rivalry with (England) and every game is anybody’s, so it feels good to come out and put on another performance.”

CANADA 26-19 BRAZIL

(Starting seven: Britt Benn, Bianca Farella, Julia Greenshields, Ghislaine Landry ©, Kayla Moleschi, Ashley Steacy & Natasha Watcham-Roy)

Canada opened the Dubai Sevens with an important 26-19 win over Olympic hosts Brazil. Julia Greenshields scored in the third minute to give Canada their first try of the 2016-17 season, while the conversion from captain Ghislaine Landry gave the Canadians a 7-0 lead.

After Brazil cut the lead to 7-5, Natasha Watcham-Roy touched down with a try while Landry added her second conversion of the half. A minute later it was Kayla Moleschi scoring Canada’s third try of the half and the Olympic bronze medalists held a 19-5 lead at the break.

That’s when the Brazilians turned the match on its head, scoring two second half tries in three minutes to make it a 19-19 game with two minutes two play. However, Charity Williams scored in the final minute to give the Canadians a much needed win.

CANADA 27-7 SPAIN

(Starting seven: Bianca Farella, Sara Kaljuvee, Ghislaine Landry ©, Kayla Moleschi, Ashley Steacy, Natasha Watcham-Roy & Charity Williams)

After an opening match scare against Brazil, Canada came out much more polished in their second match of the day, winning comfortably 27-7 over Spain. Bianca Farella opened the scoring with a try in the second minute after a nice show of hands from the Canadians

Canadian captain Ghislaine Landry added another score just before half to give Canada a 10-0 lead at the break. Unlike the first match of the day, there would be no letdown from the Canadians in the second half.

Canada used a clean restart to find Charity Williams whose pace on the outside was too much for the Spanish defence and Canada found themselves up 15-0 just moments into the half. While Spain planted some doubt in the minds of Canadians after a converted try cut the lead to 15-7, it was Canada answering with back-to-back tries from Julia Greenshields.

CANADA 24-12 ENGLAND

(Starting seven: Bianca Farella, Ghislaine Landry ©, Megan Lukan, Kayla Moleschi, Breanne Nicholas, Natasha Watcham-Roy & Charity Williams)

It was a clinical performance for Canada, who clinched top spot in Pool C with an impressive 24-12 win over England. After going down 5-0 early in the match, Canada dominated play from that point on.

Canada quickly took over the lead through a converted Hannah Darling try while Kayla Moleschi tacked on another try just before half to give the Canadians a 12-5 lead at the break. With Canada continuing to play strong defense, they were able to catch England on the counter.

Moleschi’s touched down with her second try of the match and then it was Breanne Nicholas, picking up her first career World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series try with a great individual effort deep inside the England 22-metre line. With Canada’s win secured, England added a last-second try.

Canada’s Roster for Dubai Sevens (Name, club, hometown):

Britt Benn – Guelph Redcoats (Napanee, ON)

Hannah Darling – Peterborough Pagans (Warsaw, ON)

Bianca Farella – Town of Mont Royal (Montreal, QC)

Julia Greenshields – Sarnia Saints (Sarnia, ON)

Sara Kaljuvee – Toronto Scottish (Ajax, ON)

Ghislaine Landry – Toronto Scottish (Toronto, ON) 

Megan Lukan – Unattached (Barrie, ON)

Kayla Moleschi – Williams Lake Rustlers (Williams Lake, BC)

Breanne Nicholas – London St. Georges (Blenheim, ON)

Ashley Steacy – Lethbridge Rugby Club (Lethbridge, AB)

Natasha Watcham-Roy – Hull Volant (Gatineau, QC)

Charity Williams – Markham Irish (Toronto, ON)

Canada’s Coaching Staff:

Meaghan Howat – Manager

John Tait – Head Coach

Sandro Fiorino – Assistant Coach

Morgan Williams – Assistant Coach

Canada’s Dubai Sevens Schedule:

Day 1 – December 1

Canada 26-19 Brazil

Canada 27-7 Spain

Canada 24-12 England

Day 2 – December 2

Cup QF – Canada vs Russia at 12:22am ET/9:22pm PT

About Rugby Canada

Rugby Canada is the national governing body of the sport of rugby union in Canada. Rugby Football 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.

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 with, Rugby Canada has put an emphasis on developing its junior programs.  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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Website: www.rugbycanada.ca 

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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