Rugby Canada – Heavy victories over Uruguay, Sri Lanka and narrow loss to Germany sees Canada into Cup Quarter-Final against Russia on day two of winner-take-all Rio de Janeiro Summer Olympic Qualifier in Monaco

MONACO – Canada’s Men’s Sevens Team has advanced to the Rio 2016 repechage Cup Quarterfinals after going 2-1 on Day 1. After a comfortable 33-0 win over Uruguay, Canada crushed Sri Lanka 57-0 to make it two wins from two. However, a narrow 21-19 loss to Germany meant Canada had to settle for second place in Pool B.

Canada will face Russia in its cup quarterfinal at 6:05am ET/3:05am PT LIVE on TSN 4 and online through TSN GO and www.worldrugby.org. In six meetings during the HSBC Sevens Series this past season, the teams split the series 3-3.

Canada 33-0 Uruguay

Harry Jones had four tries as Canada cruised to victory in its tournament opener under the blistering sun in Monaco. After playing some tigh-knit defence for the opening three minutes, Canada sprung to life when they got ball in hand as captain John Moonlight shoulder charged a Uruguayan defender before cruising down the wing to touch down under the posts for an early 7-0 lead.

Jones would grab his first try moments later as he gathered a loose ball off of a kickoff to run in under the posts before getting his second try of the day just before the interval as Canada took a commanding 21-0 lead into the break. It was all one way traffic in the second half too as Jones completed his hat-trick by collecting an errant pass before a nifty Moonlight offload sent Jones in again to complete the scoring with Nathan Hirayama converting four of five conversions.

Canada 57-0 Sri Lanka

Canada ran in nine tries as they crushed Sri Lanka in their second pool game of the day. Canada came flying out of the gates as Conor Trainor exploded through the Sri Lankan line to give Canada a 7-0 lead before great defence from Mike Fuailefau saw the Victoria native hold up what looked like a sure try for the underdogs.

From there on out it was all Canada however as Justin Douglas, Nathan Hirayama and Admir Cejvanovic had first half tries to give Canada 26-0 lead at the interval. Canada kept the pressure on in the second half as Phil Berna (2), Fuailefau (2) and Douglas all touched down to seal a dominant 57-0 win.

Canada 19-21 Germany

A last minute try by Sebastian Fromm gave Germany a narrow 21-19 win over Canada in their final pool game of the day. Canada had fallen behind as Tim Biniak gave Germany an early lead but tied the game when Ciaran Hearn touched down after a Lucas Hammond linebreak. John Moonlight gave Canada a 12-7 lead but a second Biniak try gave Germany a 14-12 lead at the interval.

Conor Trainor restored Canada’s lead once more but Fromm reached for the line with a minute left to tie the game before Fabian Hiempel slotted the conversion.

Canada’s Roster for the Rio 2016 Olympic Repechage
 
Phil Berna – (UBC Thunderbirds), Vancouver, BC
Admir Cejvanovic – (Burnaby Lake RFC/BC Bears) Burnaby, BC
Justin Douglas – (Abbotsford RFC/BC Bears) Abbotsford, BC
Mike Fuailefau – (Castaway Wanderers/BC Bears) Victoria, BC
Lucas Hammond – (Toronto Nomads/Ontario Blues) Toronto, ON
Nathan Hirayama – (UVIC Vikes/BC Bears) Richmond, BC
Ciaran Hearn – (London Irish) Conception Bay, NL
Harry Jones – (Capilano RFC/BC Bears) West Vancouver, BC
Phil Mack – (James Bay AA/BC Bears) Victoria, BC
John Moonlight – Captain (James Bay AA/Ontario Blues) Pickering, ON
Conor Trainor – (UBCOB Ravens/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC
Adam Zaruba – (Capilano RFC/BC Bears) Vancouver, BC
 
Canada’s men’s sevens coaching staff:
 
Liam Middleton – Head Coach
Lee Douglas – Assistant Coach
Brian Hunter – Manager
Danielle Mah – Physiotherapist
Calum Ramsay – Performance Analyst
 
Canada’s Rio 2016 Olympic Repechage Day 1 Schedule:
 
Canada 33-0 Uruguay 
Canada 57-0 Sri Lanka
Canada 19-21 Germany 

Canada’s Rio 2016 Olympic Repechage Day 2 Schedule:

Canada vs. Russia — 6:05am ET/3:05am 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.

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 2016 and 2020 Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil and Tokyo, Japan respectively, the 2017 Women’s Rugby World Cup in Ireland and 2019 Men’s Rugby World Cup in Japan. 

Twitter: www.twitter.com/RugbyCanada

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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