Rugby Canada – Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team to face England on day two after defeating Brazil, France and Russia to open the 2017 HSBC Canada Women’s Sevens at Westhills Stadium

LANGFORD, B.C. – (May 27, 2017) Canada’s Women’s Sevens Team has advanced to the HSBC Canada Women’s Sevens cup quarterfinals after going 3-0 on Day 1 on Saturday in Langford, BC.

With wins over Brazil, France and Russia, Canada will now face England at 1:30pm ET/10:30am PT. Canada, who lost in the cup quarterfinals the last two years in Langford, is seeking to become the first team to win its home tournament. Having won the Sydney Sevens, and claimed silver in Kitakyushu in their most recent outing, they currently sit third in the season standings behind New Zealand and Australia.

What Coach John Tait said:

“We did what we wanted to do. We got three wins from the first three games and everyone came through in pretty good shape, so I think we’re in good form going into tomorrow. Everyone got a good amount of playing time, so hopefully they’ve adjusted to the atmosphere and we’ll be ready to rock in the quarter-final.”

“I was pretty happy with our defence today. We let in two tries today and both of them were fairly easy fixes, so if we play good defence tomorrow, hopefully we’ll be in good form tomorrow”

CANADA 33-5 BRAZIL

Canada stormed out of the gates for an impressive opening with at Westhills Stadium. Julia Greenshields got Canada rolling inside a minute before Bianca Farella paced away to push the lead to 12-0. Hannah Darling extended the lead to 19-0 before half time with Britt Benn adding Canada’s fourth try early into the second half for a 26-0 advantage.

Claudia Teles got Brazil on the board but Canada would add one more try through speedster Charity Williams as Canada cruised to a 33-5 victory.

CANADA 33-0 FRANCE

Canada made it two wins from two in comfortable fashion after defeating France. Two early tries from Bianca Farella gave Canada a 12-0 lead before Britt Benn pushed the advantage to 19-0 by half time.

Charity Williams scored two second half tries, the second of which was an end-to-end run from inside the Canadian five meter line, to complete a comprehensive win.

CANADA 24-10 RUSSIA

Canada completed a perfect Day 1 after a comfortable win over Russia. Julia Greenshields got Canada off to a quick 7-0 lead but Baizat Khamidova replied for Russia to make it 7-5. Hannah Darling’s break set up Ghislaine Landry for a 12-5 lead at the break before Bianca Farella pushed the advantage to 19-5.

Natasha Watcham-Roy grabbed her first try of the tournament to seal victory before Elena Zdrokova scored one last Russian try before the final whistle.

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

Britt Benn – Guelph Redcoats (Napanee, ON)

Caroline Crossley – Castaway Wanderers (Victoria, BC)

Hannah Darling – Peterborough Pagans (Warsaw, ON)

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

Julia Greenshields – Sarnia Saints (Sarnia, ON)

Jen Kish – Edmonton Rockers (Edmonton, AB) 

Ghislaine Landry (captain) – Toronto Scottish (Toronto, ON) 

Megan Lukan – Unattached (Barrie, ON)

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)

Reserves:

Sara Kaljuvee – Toronto Scottish (Ajax, ON)

Kaili Lukan – Unattached (Barrie, ON)

Unavailable:

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

Coaching Staff:

Meaghan Howat – Manager

John Tait – Head Coach

Sandro Fiorino – Assistant Coach

Morgan Williams – Assistant Coach

Canada’s Canada Sevens Day 1 Schedule (Saturday, May 27):

Canada 33-5 Brazil 

Canada 33-0 France 

Canada 24-10 Russia

Canada’s Canada Sevens Day 2 Schedule (Sunday, May 28):

Canada vs. England — 1:30pm ET/10:30am PT

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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