The women had a fairly successful tournament to end the series, finishing in 6th place. They defeated rivals USA in the 5th place semi but lost to France in the 5th place final. The women finish the series in 7th place.
It was the best tournament for Canada this season as they earned 12 points for their 5th place finish. They lost to NZ in their first match of Day 2 but then defeated Fiji and USA, two tough opponents, to claim 5th place.
Canada East go into Day 2 in the lead with a 3-0 record. Photos from Day 1 can be viewed at this link.
from Rugby Canada
Canadas Senior Womens and Mens Sevens teams were both crowned RAN Sevens Qualifiers Cup winners on Sunday, confirming their places at the Rugby World Cup Sevens 2022 in the process.
The men came away with 2 points at the Seville tournament only coming out ahead of Jamaica who were an invitational side. Wales, Japan and Germany all came out ahead of Canada, and Germany are also an invitational side. Canada’s permanent spot on the series may be in jeopardy, the one saving grace this year, due to COVID, is relegation and promotion may be off the table. Canada currently sit in 13th spot, narrowly ahead of Wales and Japan.
MEN’S TEAM
Canada lost to USA in the 5th place semi-final and ended up in a 7th/8th place tied with Ireland for 10 series points. South Africa won their 3rd straight tournament and remain top of the standings. Canada are in 11th place and closed the gap on Spain (10th) to one point and on Kenya (9th) to two points.
The schedules and pools have been released for the World Rugby 7s Series taking place in Malaga, Spain on January 21-23.
A worrying time for the men’s program as they share bottom of the standings with Japan now, losing to Japan this tournament. Is it time to look at the coaching of the team at this point, does the team need rejuvenation, leaving things as they are looks like a formula for relegation. With the men’s XVs program relegated from the World Cup for the first time, under a foreign coach, are the men’s 7s to follow the same fate? Some decisive action is required.
This is a transition year for both the men’s and women’s programs as new players are tested out on the international circuit. The danger for Canada is that if the quality is too low they could be relegated from the series the following year.
Jack Hanratty has been given the reigns of the contentious senior women’s 7s program until the end of the calendar year. The program has been hitting the headlines recently but not in a positive way. First the players ousted their long time coach, John Tait, accusing him of harassment and bullying, charges he was later cleared of by an independent investigator. Then they tanked at the Olympics, finishing 9th, after being favoured to repeat their 2016 Bronze medal performance.