Canada misses Japan Sevens quarter-final berth

The friendly confines of Westhills Stadium can’t come soon enough next month for the Langford-based Canadian women’s rugby sevens team.

Canada missed making it to the medal-round quarter-finals of a World Series event for the first time on Saturday when it was bounced from contention in the Japan Sevens, taking place in Kitakyushu.

That comes a week after fourth-place Canada was left off the podium in Gold Coast, Australia, in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

The ambitions were much greater after winning bronze in the 2016 Rio Olympics.

That gives an Operation Rebound-type focus for the next World Series tournament, which just happens to be the Canada Sevens on May 12-13 at Westhills. Returning to the Island to regroup could be a salve for a somewhat numbed Canadian side that was ranked No. 2 in the world before what has turned into a disastrous trek across the Pacific for the Commonwealth Games and Japan Sevens.

Canada finished pool play in Kitakyushu 1-2 as a 38-14 victory over Fiji was followed by 21-19 loss to England and a shock 19-5 loss to Russia.

The defeat at the hands of the English was doubly tough to take since England was also the team that beat Canada 24-19 in the bronze-medal game of the Commonwealth Games.

Things slid from worse to woeful as Canada then lost the first consolation game it has played, 24-19 in extra time to Ireland, and was set to play host Japan for the 11th-12th placings.

Canada went into the Japan Sevens missing its captain and alltime World Series scoring-leader Ghislaine Landry, who was injured during the Commonwealth Games.

Landry has been an iron lady who, until now, has withstood the pounding her body has taken in the sport. She said she was “gutted” to be out of the lineup. Landry’s Canadian teammates, which include Oak Bay product Caroline Crossley, definitely missed not only Landry’s speed down the sidelines in Japan, but also her leadership.

Canada bottomed out in Kitakyushu while such unlikely rugby nations as China, Russia and Spain advanced to the quarter-finals. It sets up an intriguing, and possibly shifting world order, coming into Langford next month.

Single-day tickets for the Canada Sevens at Westhills Stadium go on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m. at canadasevens.com or through Ticket Rocket at 1-855-842-7575.

Meanwhile, the Langford-based Canadian men’s sevens team also continues across the Pacific, following up the Gold Coast Commonwealth Games, with the World Series Singapore Sevens next weekend.