Top dog Aussies next for Canucks
Through the first two days of the women’s Olympic rugby sevens tournament, Canada played four games, including two meat-grinders against opponents ranked in the top five of the world.
That was also the easy part. On Monday, the women sporting the Maple Leaf meet the top-ranked team in the world in Australia and, if they’re successful there, they’ll face either New Zealand — who’ve been the most impressive team at the Olympic tournament — or Great Britain, which pasted the Canucks earlier on Sunday, in the gold-medal match.
“We have to look at this thing like we’ve earned a great opportunity,” John Tait, Canada’s head coach, said shortly after his team pounded out a 15-5 decision over France in the Olympic tournament quarter-finals. “Australia is going to be a tough team, but I’m confident if we look after the ball and play the way we can, we can beat them.’’
On Sunday evening, the Canadians advanced to the semifinals of the first-ever Olympic rugby sevens tournament with a determined effort. Against France, the fifth-ranked team in the world, Tait’s team trailed 5-0 before Kyla Moleschi found a seam off a scrum and raced the length of the field for a try.
The Canadians then turned the French back at their own try line at the end of the first half before substitute Bianca Farella scored the game-winning try after sustained Canadian possession late in the second half. Landry added a final try in the late going.
“It showed we’re tenacious,” Team Canada veteran Ashley Steacy said. “They scored on us once, but you saw out there we were calm, cool and collected and we kept our composure until the very end.”