Rugby Canada – Canada falls to eventual Cup winners Australia, England and defeat Fiji on day two of third leg of HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series; Series now shifts to Langford for next weekend’s HSBC Canada Women’s Sevens at Westhills Stadium 

ATLANTA, GEORGIA – Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team finished in fourth place at the Atlanta Sevens after dropping their Bronze final match 26-14 to England. With the fourth place finish in Atlanta, Canada earned 14 points and enters next weekend’s tournament in Langford in third place in the series standings.

Canada fell out of cup competition earlier on Saturday with another 26-14 loss to series leaders Australia in the Cup Semifinals. With the win, Australia improved to 10-5 all-time in the series vs the Canadians. Having gone a perfect 3-0 on Friday in pool play, Canada began Day Two with a convincing 29-0 win over Fiji in the Cup Quarterfinals.

Head coach John Tait said:
“Definitely frustrated. We had too many unforced errors and defensive breakdowns today. The Aussies and English both played as we thought they would pattern-wise and we just didn’t maintain enough possession to beat either. We definitely felt like we could win this tournament after day one, but when you give up leads early to quality sides you need some bounces to go your way and you have to keep possession. We didn’t get either.  We will refocus and look forward to competing at home next week.”
 

CANADA 29-0 FIJI
Canada entered as the favourite with a 4-1 all-time record against Fiji, but even they will be pleasantly surprised with the ease in which they won the match. From start to finish, Canada controlled much of the ball possession while pinning the Fijians in their half for most of the match.
The Fijians didn’t even touch the ball with their hands until the three-minute mark of the first half. By then, Ghislaine Landry had already scored two trys to give Canada an early 12-0 lead. The Toronto native made it a first half hat trick a couple minutes later and the Canadians took a 19-0 lead into half.
Canada wasted little time getting on the board in the second half, with Emma Jada touching down for a try just two minutes in. Bianca Farella added a late try to give Canada the lopsided win.
 

CANADA 14-26 AUSTRALIA
It was an uncharacteristic showing from the Canadians, who dropped their Cup Semifinal match 26-14 to Australia. Usually superb, Canada had many ball handling errors throughout the match and against the series leaders, no error will go unpunished.
With the Canadians trying to find their stride, Australia took a 14-0 lead into half. That’s when things changed for the Canadians. First it was Ghislaine Landry racing down the touchline to make it a one-score game.
Then it was Karen Paquin touching down in the corner, with Kelly Russell hitting the conversion from an extremely tough angle. But after a courageous comeback from Canada, Australia showed their class in the closing minutes, putting an end to the back-and-forth affair with two trys in two minutes.
 

CANADA 14-26 ENGLAND
England improved to 8-7 all-time vs Canada with a comfortable 26-14 win to take the Bronze final. Canada went down 7-0 early in the first half but after England were shown a yellow card, Bianca Farella evened things up with a try under the posts. However, it was England with a quick response, taking a 14-7 lead into the break.

England used a strong second half performance to back their lead, scoring two unanswered trys to extend their lead to 26-7. Substitute Charity Williams ensured a respectable scoreline with a try after the hooter, but it was too little too late for the Canadians.

Canada’s Roster for the Atlanta Sevens (name, club, hometown):
Hannah Darling – (Peterborough Pagans) Warsaw, ON
Bianca Farella – (Town of Mont Royal RFC) Montreal, QC
Emmanuela Jada (Guelph Redcoats) Guelph, ON
Sara Kaljuvee – (Toronto Scottish) Ajax, ON
Jen Kish – (Edmonton Rockers) Edmonton, AB
Ghislaine Landry – (Toronto Scottish) Toronto, ON Megan Lukan – (Unattached) Barrie, ON
Kayla Mack – (Wild Oats) Saskatoon, SK
Kayla Moleschi – (Williams Lake Rustlers) Williams Lake, BC
Karen Paquin – (Club de Rugby Quebec) Quebec City, QC
Kelly Russell – (Toronto Nomads) Bolton, ON
Charity Williams – (Markham Irish) Toronto, ON
 

Unavailable for selection due to injury:
Elissa Alarie – (Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue Rugby Club) Trois-Rivieres, QC
Britt Benn – (Guelph Redcoats) Napanee, ON
Magali Harvey – (Club de Rugby Quebec) Quebec City, QC Ashley Steacy – (Lethbridge Rugby Club) Lethbridge, AB
Natasha Watcham-Roy – (Hull Volant) Gatineau, QC
 

Canada’s Coaching Staff:
John Tait – Head Coach
Sandro Fiorino – Assistant Coach
Meaghan Howat – Manager
Sandeep Nandhra – Athletic Therapist
Tyler Goodale – Strength & Conditioning
 

Canada’s Atlanta Sevens Day 1 Schedule:
Canada 26-5 Russia Canada 29 – 5 Ireland Canada 17 – 12 France
 

Canada’s Atlanta Sevens Day 2 Schedule:
Canada 29 – 0 Fiji Cup Quarter-Final

Canada 14 – 26 Cup Semi-Final

Canada 14 – 26 England 3rd/4th Game

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

Twitter: www.twitter.com/RugbyCanada

Facebook: www.facebook.com/RugbyCanada

YouTube: www.youtube.com/RugbyCanada

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Website: www.rugbycanada.ca 

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For more information, please contact:

Bryan Kelly, Rugby Canada

Manager, Communications and Media Relations

Phone: 250-216-5272

Email: bkelly@rugbycanada.ca