Rugby
Canada’s women’s rugby sevens team rebounded from an opening match loss to a resounding 38-0 win over Great Britain at the HSBC SVNS stop at Vancouver’s B.C. Place on Friday.
Canadian men set to face Fiji after falling to Argentina in opener at B.C. Place
Nick Wells · The Canadian Press
· Posted: Feb 23, 2024 7:45 PM EST | Last Updated: 3 hours ago
Canada’s Charity Williams celebrates during her team’s 38-0 win over Great Britain in the HSBC SVNS women’s tournament at Vancouver’s B.C. Place on Friday. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press)Canada’s women’s rugby sevens team rebounded from an opening match loss to a resounding 38-0 win over Great Britain at the HSBC SVNS stop at Vancouver’s B.C. Place on Friday.
Krissy Scurfield opened the scoring on a breakaway in the first half while Charity Williams had two tries.
Williams scored her second try while performing a somersault after breaking clear of her defender and Piper Logan added to the rout with just over a minute left in the match.
The result means Canada needs to beat Spain on Saturday to advance to the quarterfinals.
The Canadian lost to France 26-14 to start the tournament earlier on Friday.
“We were disappointed with the result earlier,” said coach Jack Henratty after the win.
On the men’s side, Canada lost 12-10 to Argentina.
Canada briefly took the lead courtesy of a try from Jack Carson, assisted by a behind-the-back pass from Vancouver native Phil Berna, but missed both conversion attempts on their tries.
The match marked Berna’s 50th rugby sevens tournament, with the Vancouver native speaking earlier in the week about how fortunate he feels to be playing in front of a hometown crowd.
“Credit to the guys for putting their head down and doing the hard work,” said men’s head coach Sean White after the loss.
Argentina’s Santiago Alvarez, left, and Marcos Moneta tackle Canada’s David Richard as Josiah Morra watches from behind during Argentina’s 12-10 win on Friday. (Ethan Cairns/The Canadian Press)Argentina has won the last two tournaments in Vancouver, and are aiming to become only the fifth team in SVNS history to win three or more consecutive cup titles in the same country.
The South American side are nearly perfect across 12 games at B.C. Place, with a draw against France in their opening pool match in 2022 denying them a perfect record.
Argentina broke the deadlock with 43 seconds left in the first half with Santiago Mare scoring the try.
Canada responded earlier in the second half after Alex Russell converted after a Canadian breakaway.
But Argentina retook the lead near the end of the match for the victory.
The women entered the tournament in sixth place, having lost in the quarterfinals of the Perth sevens series stop while the men sit in 11th.
The Canadian men’s team will take on Fiji near the end of the first day of the tournament.
The top ranked Australian women’s side is unbeaten in two games at the tournament, besting Japan 12-10 and Fiji 26-12.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nick Wells is a writer with The Canadian Press.
