Canada reach Cup Final in São Paulo

Canada couldn’t quite take the title against a rampant Australia, but they did defeat New Zealand for the first time in their history to make their third Cup final appearance in the last four stops of the HSBC Women’s Sevens Series. The strong showing shoots them into a tie with New Zealand in series points, but in third place overall on points differential. Australia are now well ahead with a maximum 40 points from back-to-back tournament wins, with their two closest rivals each 12 points behind.

After a weekend of near perfect weather, the rain started to fall in the second half of the bronze final between New Zealand and the USA, and by the time the big match kicked off it was smashing down on the turf, making handling exceedingly difficult. It was Australia who dealt with the conditions best, controlling possession and using their strength in the tackle to skip out of tackles and wear down the Canadian defense. The final score read a lopsided 29-0, though that may have flattered the champions slightly.

Day two got off to a great start for Canada, as they came through their French test with flying colours in a 19-0 win, and then stifling defense shut down the vaunted New Zealand attack en route to a decisive 19-10 upset in the Cup semi-final. The match included a scintillating individual try to captain Jen Kish, though it did cost them star forward Karen Paquin, forced to sit out the final with injury.

The USA scored an upset of their own in the Cup quarters, defeating England 22-12 before being shut out first by champions Australia in the semis and then New Zealand in the Bronze final. They now move to 8th place, a major improvement on their below par 11th place finish in Dubai.

Brazil had nowhere to hide on day two, coming up well short in all three of their matches but still managing to finish 8th in the tourney. New Zealand proved far too much to handle, while both France and England offered little respite. With the improved showing they now rank 9th overall.

The Women’s Series now takes another long break before resuming for back-to-back tournaments in North America. First up is Atlanta on April 8-9, following immediately by Langford the following weekend on April 16-17.

DAY TWO RESULTS

CUP QUARTER-FINALS
Australia 10 – 0 Fiji
New Zealand 41 – 0 Brazil
France 0 – 19 Canada
USa 22 – 12 England

BOWL SEMI-FINALS
Spain 7 – 17 Japan
Ireland 0 – 15 Russia

PLATE SEMI-FINALS
Fiji 26 – 12 England
Brazil 7 – 24 France

CUP SEMI-FINALS
Australia 34 – 0 USA
New Zealand 10 – 19 Canada

11th PLACE
Spain 19 – 0 Ireland

BOWL FINAL
Japan 12 – 38 Russia

7th PLACE
England 24 – 7 Brazil

PLATE FINAL
Fiji 5 – 17 France

BRONZE FINAL
USA 0 – 28 New Zealand

CUP FINAL
Australia 29 – 0 Canada