TWO MORE CANADIAN MEDALS
Bronze in rugby sevens, backstroke
Note to self: ask someone what the rugby term is for smashmouth.
Chances are, it’s “smashmouth.” That, at least, was Team Canada’s methodology against Great Britain in the bronze medal match of the women’s rugby sevens Monday night at Deodoro Stadium.
It ended 33-10 for the Canadians — a 45-point turnaround in fortunes from the group stage, where Team GB waxed them 22-0 — and it was largely a product of punishment. Played like girls? Damn’ right. That’s three medals now for Canada at the Rio Olympics, all from women.
Oh, it wasn’t all muscle. There was strategy, too. The Canadians had to be better defensively on the flanks, and make sure tackles. They had to attack with intelligence and as one, not seven individuals. They had to make accurate passes, catch the ball and not turn it over. Football, actually.
But what they did best, after being trampled by the world (and now Olympic) champion Aussies in the afternoon semifinal, was hit hard and hit often, until the Brits had lost their will.
A big part of rugby, even the seven-woman brand, is brute force, and the Canadians — following the pitiless lead of captain Jen Kish and riding a beautiful two-way game by Canada’s all-time leading points scorer, Ghislaine Landry — left the British players with bruises they’ll be feeling for some time and tore big holes in their defence.
By halftime of the 20-minute match, it was 26-5 and the Canadians needed only to manage the ball from there.
“I feel like a superhero and I know I have 11 teammates who feel like that, too,” said Kish, who left each of Monday’s matches late, and hurt.
“Man, that was hard,” she said, of trying to get up again after the Australia loss. “We were devastated. The gold medal dream was over. But the loss didn’t define us. It’s how you get up after. We said, hey, we have a third-place game.
“It was 22-0 last match (vs. GB), and I don’t know if they thought they had us, but we weren’t going to go down without a fight. We put our foot down on throttle, and we really gave it to them.”
There were marvellous sights at Deodoro on Monday, like the heartbroken Kiwi players, many in tears, performing a long and emotional women’s Haka on the sidelines for their fans while the Aussies paraded their flag on a victory lap behind them after the gold medal match.
But one of the true marvels was the level of ferocity the Canadians showed in rescuing a bronze medal from the disappointment of their 17-5 loss to Australia in the afternoon.
Landry scored two tries, one in each half, on inside feints that left the Brits clutching at air, and added four conversions. Karen Paquin opened scoring for Canada in the third minute, but it was back-to-back scores by Bianca Farella and Kelly Russell in the final minute of the half that sealed the victory.
Danielle Waterman and Jasmine Joyce scored tries for Team GB.
“They came out a little pissed off from the way they played against Australia,” said Canada’s mountainous head coach John Tait.
“It was emotional. There’s a lot of them probably won’t be back. The goal was, in the lockerroom, if we come out and forget about winning and losing and just perform to our best, then for England to beat us, we’d have to see an England, or I mean Great Britain, we’d never seen before.”
It was a virtuoso performance from Landry, who was blanketed by Australia but found room to move against Team GB.
“It really is a team game, and for Ghislaine to be able to shine, she needs the people around her to fulfil their roles ... and when that happens, you can see a superstar shine,” Tait said.
“She’s got great feet and she’s a great attacking player. What she’s done better this year is tackling, and she made a few try-saving tackles in that game. She’s a complete player, and one that I hope doesn’t retire, because I think she’s got another quad in her, and I’m sure lots of Canadians would love to see her keep playing.”
Kish, 28, gave and received some enormous hits in both games Monday.
“Kish puts it on the line, and I’ve seen her play through a lot of tough injuries,” said Tait. “She was banged up, but she’s a hard one. You actually have to pull her back. She’ll play through anything.”
She was feeling no pain with a bronze medal waiting to be put around her neck, but knew there would come a time ...
“I’m pretty sure when I wake up tomorrow,” she said, “it’s going to be a rough morning.”
I feel like a superhero and I know I have 11 teammates who feel like that, too.