Canadian rugby women miss podium in Dubai
From desert metropolis to soggy Victoria suburb, the Canadian women’s rugby team gets back to training Wednesday at Westhills Stadium. It does so feeling a sense of dissatisfaction with its fourthplace finish over the weekend in the 2017-18 World Series-opening Dubai Sevens.
“We had our chances but didn’t play our best on Day 2,” said head coach John Tait of Mill Bay, after the team arrived back on the Island early Sunday.
“We are not pleased with fourth at all. But we had a short bench and ran out of gas.”
Canada, the 2016 Rio Olympics bronze-medallist, began strong with a 3-0 pool record with blow-out wins over Spain, Ireland and Fiji and a 24-19 overtime victory against France in the quarter-finals.
The “running out of gas” part came in a 25-7 loss to Australia in the semifinals and a surprising 10-5 setback against Russia in the bronze-medal game.
The situation was worsened by an injury to Breanne Nicholas early in the tournament. That came with injured regulars Bianca Farella, Charity Williams, Kaili Lukan and Sara Kaljuvee already out of the lineup, necessitating the call-up of youthful newcomers Tausani Levale and Emma Chown. Meanwhile, veterans Jen Kish and Kayla Moleschi have only just returned from serious injuries.
“It’s a matter of getting [Kish’s and Moleschi’s] form and fitness back,” said Tait.
Mainstays Farella and Williams are expected back for the next World Series tournament next month in Sydney.
“If we had played well against Australia, we would have made the final,” lamented Tait, of the Dubai results over the weekend.
“It was unfortunate because there was a real opportunity.”
There was a sense of deja-vu to all this. Canada finished third overall in the World Series standings last season and was denied second place by a slender margin thanks to points lost in a similar under-achieving performance at the 2016 Dubai Sevens seasonopener, in which it placed fifth.
The Aussies defeated the U.S. 34-0 in the 2017 Dubai final on the weekend after the Americans had stunned defending World Series champion New Zealand in the semifinals.
Julia Greenshields of Canada was named to the tournament Dream Team.
Meanwhile, tickets go on sale Thursday at 10 a.m. at canadasevens.com for the World Series Canada Sevens to be played at Westhills Stadium for the fourth consecutive year, May 12-13. The other remaining women’s World Series stops are Sydney on Jan. 26-28, Kitakyushu, Japan, on April 21-22, and Paris on June 8-10. There will be two additional events for Canada this season with the 2018 Commonwealth Games scheduled April 4-15 at Gold Coast, Australia, and the World Cup from July 20-22 at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
“We will have to manage that smartly,” said Tait.
The Langford-based Canadian men’s team lost 28-21 to France in the consolation-side Challenge Trophy semifinals of the Dubai Sevens after beating the U.S. 10-5 in the Challenge quarter-finals thanks to the fine passing of Victoria’s Connor Braid for the winning try. Canada went 1-2 in pool play after beating Uganda 22-17 but losing 29-15 to Kenya and 28-0 to Rio Olympics bronze-medallist South Africa, which went on to win the Dubai Sevens.
On the Canadian team are Pat Kay of Duncan, Mike Fuailefau and Braid, both of Victoria, University of Victoria Vikes products Nathan Hirayama, Lucas Hammond and Isaac Kaay, John Moonlight of James Bay, Phil Berna, Admir Cejvanovic, Justin Douglas, Matt Mullins, Liam Underwood and captain Harry Jones.
Canada now travels to the Cape Town Sevens and opens Saturday in a pool with Fiji, Samoa and Wales.