Canadian teams struggle at sevens World Cup

The setting was stunning for the 2018 rugby sevens World Cup at AT&T Park by the bay in San Francisco.

But not so magnificent to match were the Langford-based Canadian men’s and women’s teams overall performances by the bay. They both head back to Westhills Stadium in Langford with big questions to answer as qualifying play looms next year for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

Canada lost 19-7 to the Aussies and 35-12 to Wales on Sunday to finish 12th in the men’s World Cup to slide three positions from its pre-World Cup ranking of No. 9.

“We need to invest in the program to take it forward,” said Canadian head coach Damian McGrath.

“If not, we’re going to start to go down to the other side. We have to invest in the program, or Olympic qualifying is going to get further away. It’s as simple as that. It’s a dangerous time for [Canadian] sevens.”

The Canadian women defeated Russia 22-10 on Sunday to place seventh, a slide of four spots from their 2016 Rio Olympics bronzemedal high-water standing.

This was an unusually lengthy season, with the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Gold Coast, Australia, and World Cup in San Francisco added to the regular run of World Series tournaments.

“It’s been a long year with a lot of challenges . . . it’s been up and down for us,” said Canadian women’s head coach John Tait.

“We have to learn the lessons to get a clear picture of where we need to go to be more consistent in the future.”

Meanwhile, the Kiwis painted AT&T Park black as New Zealand swept both the men’s and women’s World Cup titles. The Kiwis defended their men’s championship with a 33-12 victory over England in the final, while the Black Ferns blanked France 29-0 in the women’s final. France had eliminated Canada in the women’s quarter-finals with the winning try scored in the waning seconds.

On the men’s side, South Africa outlasted Olympic champion Fiji 24-19 to win the bronze after the tournament’s top two seeds were bounced in the semifinals.

Two-time reigning world series champions and top-seeded South Africa scored the opening try in its semifinal against England but was blanked the rest of the way in 29-7 loss. England needed overtime to beat the United States in the quarter-finals.

The U.S. lost 33-7 to Argentina in the fifth-place game.