Canada beats Rio sevens gold medallist

The Langford-based Canadian men’s rugby team had to contend with a difficult pool Saturday at the Cape Town Sevens in South Africa, but acquitted itself well in going 2-1 to advance to today’s quarter-finals.

The opening-day set-piece for Canada was its 22-14 upset of Fiji, the 2016 Rio Olympics goldmedallist and long the darling of the sevens game. Canada also beat Wales 31-14, but dropped a tight 19-17 decision to Samoa.

Justin Douglas of Abbotsford was named performer of the day while Connor Braid of Victoria off-loaded passes that led to Canadian tries. In a pre-tournament video interview, Canadian captain Harry Jones talked about “keeping it simple.” Whatever the Canadians did, it worked.

Canada will meet France in the quarter-finals this morning in Cape Town. The meeting comes one week after France beat Canada 28-21 in the consolation side of the 2017-18 World Series season-opening 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 Jones.

The Rio Olympics bronzemedallist Canadian women’s team, also based in Langford, opened its World Series season with fourth place last week in the Dubai Sevens. There was no World Series event in Cape Town for the women.

The Canadian men’s and women’s teams next see action in the Sydney Sevens on Jan. 26-28. Canada will be in the World Series hosting spotlight for the men’s Canada Sevens on March 10-11 at B.C. Place and the women’s Canada Sevens on May 12-13 at Westhills Stadium.

Key upcoming events for both men’s and women’s sevens include the 2018 Commonwealth Games from April 4-15 in Gold Coast, Australia, and the World Cup from July 20-22 at AT&T Park in San Francisco.