Depleted Canadians open Japan Sevens with a win

It was a downhearted Langford-based Canadian women’s sevens rugby team that left Gold Coast, Australia, last weekend without a medal in the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

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

“It was definitely disappointing to us and not what we were looking for,” said Canadian captain Ghislaine Landry. “There were a lot of lessons coming out of that.” But Landry wouldn’t be in the lineup going forward to apply them.

If fourth place in Gold Coast wasn’t disappointing enough, it turned into a double-whammy with news later in the week that Landry was injured during the Commonwealth Games.

Landry said she was “gutted” to be out of the lineup as the players made their way to this weekend’s World Series Japan Sevens event in Kitakyushu.

But the Canadians rebounded well with an opening 38-14 victory over Fiji on Friday night PDT in Kitakyushu. The next match offered up a tantalizing opportunity for sweet revenge against the English team, which defeated Canada 24-19 in the bronze-medal game of the Commonwealth Games. But England scored at the death to beat Canada 21-19 in Japan to further salt Canadian wounds from Gold Coast.

Canada completed pool play in Japan with a game against Russia early this morning PDT. The medal and consolation rounds continue today and Sunday in Kitakyushu.

Island fans can welcome home the Canadian team next month. Next up in the World Series is the Canada Sevens on May 12-13 at Westhills Stadium in Langford, for which single-day tickets go on sale Tuesday at 10 a.m. at canadasevens.com or through Ticket Rocket at 1-855-842-7575.