UNDEFEATED DAY ONE FOR CANADA AT HSBC CANADA WOMEN’S SEVENS
Canada opened the day with a convincing 38-0 win over Japan before another lopsided victory over Ireland, 26-0. Canada claimed top spot in Pool C after beating England 5-0 in their final match on Saturday. Head coach John Tait was very pleased with Canada’s defensive effort on Day One. Canada did not concede a single point, while outscoring their three opponents 69-0.
“Obviously the defence and keeping a clean sheet for Day One is always a challenge, not to have those letdowns,” said Tait. “We’ve worked hard in the last week, particularly looking at a lot of video where we can improve our defence. The structure was there, it’s just a matter of us being calm.”
It’s the first time this season Canada did not concede a single point in a day of competition.
“It’s pretty impressive nobody scored any points on us,” said Captain Jen Kish. “We all know defence wins games and it just goes to show that when you’re on with your defence you’re going to come out with a 3-0 on Day One.”
Canada was in the same position at last year’s Canada Sevens where they finished 3-0 on Day One before bowing out in the Cup Quarterfinals, losing two of their three matches on Day Two. Kish missed last year’s tournament due to injury, but knows what it will take to be successful this time around.
“There’s always room for improvement,” said Kish. “We’re just going to maintain our focus on where to attack on teams weaknesses and it’s all about having your vision up and when our vision is up and we’re looking and scanning and breathing and our minds keep working we’re going to have a successful Day Two. It’s one game at a time and it’s a game of inches, that’s how we did well today.”
Tait doesn’t think his team is in for a repeat performance.
“It will be different this year, because of last year.”
CANADA 38-0 JAPAN
Playing in front of their home crowd, Canada’s women’s sevens team opened the Canada Sevens with a dominating 38-0 win. Canada controlled much of the play in the match, with Japan’s only real threat coming on a tryline stand by the Canadian defence.
Karen Paquin opened the scoring in the first minute, while Bianca Farella added two first half tries to give Canada a 21-0 lead at half. The second half was much of the same, with Canada scoring another three tries as Kayla Moleschi, Britt Benn and Kelly Russell all touched down.
CANADA 26-0 IRELAND
Canada followed up their opening win with another strong performance, this time a 26-0 win over Ireland. The Irish hung tough with the Canadians in the opening half, but with Canada pinned in their own try zone, Bianca Farella went the length of the pitch to give Canada a 7-0 lead at the break.
Canada continued to play at a high level in the second half, with Kayla Mack taking the second half restart in for her first ever World Rugby Sevens Series try.
Mack followed that up with her second try in as many minutes and Kelly Russell added a fourth Canadian try in the closing seconds as Canada claimed a 26-0 victory.
CANADA 5-0 ENGLAND
Canada continued their dominant defensive effort against England, scrapping out a 5-0 win to take Pool C. Bianca Farella provided the only points of the match, scoring in the final seconds of the first half. It was Farella’s fourth try of the tournament, the most by any Canadian player.
For the full Canada Sevens schedule, please click here. The cup final will kick off at 9:05pm ET/6:05pm PT Sunday. The entire tournament can be seen LIVE at www.worldrugby.org
Canada’s Roster for the Atlanta Sevens (name, club, hometown):
Britt Benn – (Guelph Redcoats) Napanee, ON
Hannah Darling – (Peterborough Pagans) Warsaw, ON
Bianca Farella – (Town of Mont Royal RFC) Montreal, QC
Julia Greenshields – (Sarnia Saints) Sarnia, 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
Magali Harvey – (Club de Rugby Quebec) Quebec City, QC
Emmanuela Jada (Guelph Redcoats) Guelph, ON
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 Langford Sevens Day 1 Schedule:
Canada 38-0 Japan
Canada 26-0 Ireland
Canada 5-0 England
Canada’s Langford Sevens Day 2 Schedule:
Canada vs. France at 1:44pm ET/10:44am PT
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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
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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