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BC Place continued its reputation as one of the premier events on the HSBC Sevens Series on Saturday. Unfortunately the packed house couldn’t quite inspire the home favorites to the Cup Quarter Finals. Canada won twice on Day One of the Vancouver Sevens including a handsome victory over Fiji but it’s the USA and Argentina who will instead represent the Americas in the final eight.
A poor start against Samoa ultimately cost Canada their place among the finalists. Against the run of form the team outplayed Olympic champions Fiji in their second match, Harry Jones scoring late in the game to bring the crowd to its feet. The win came at a cost, however, as captain Nathan Hirayama suffered a rib injury that is likely to see him miss the remainder of the tournament.
Needing a win against Kenya to have any chance of pushing through it was Connor Braid who stepped up in Hirayama’s absence. The DHL Impact Player of Las Vegas was outstanding as he scored 21 points including a hat-trick of tries, though it would ultimately not be enough as Fiji’s win over Samoa relegated the team to the Challenge Trophy draw.
The USA entered the tournament as top seeds and they started well enough with comfortable wins over Wales and Chile. Defending series champions South Africa had other ideas, however, and turned around their lackluster Las Vegas performance to beat the Eagles 19-7 to take top spot in Pool A.
Chile were themselves without their captain as Felipe Brangier was ruled out before the tournament. Ignacio Silva led the charge but South Africa were simply too much in the first game. Two tries from Benjamín de Vidts gave them credit against the USA and they were left heartbroken as an Owen Jenkins try was enough give Wales the victory in their final pool match.
It was another roller coaster ride for Argentina. After recording strong wins against Japan and Scotland they ran into a dominant England side who were two steps ahead at every turn. Four tries were scored before Luciano González Rizzoni would add a late double in the 33-14 loss.
Los Pumas will face the Blitzboks in the first Cup Quarter Final on Day Two, with the USA marked up against England. Chile are up against Scotland in their Trophy Quarter Final match with Canada set to play a confident Spain side who upset New Zealand for the first time in their history on Day One.
DAY ONE RESULTS
POOL A
South Africa 43-0 Chile
USA 40-14 Wales
South Africa 19-10 Wales
USA 33-19 Chile
Chile 12-19 Wales
USA 7-19 South Africa
POOL B
Fiji 36-12 Kenya
Samoa 38-7 Canada
Fiji 19-26 Canada
Samoa 35-12 Kenya
Kenya 21-36 Canada
Samoa 17-31 Fiji
POOL C
Australia 17-14 Spain
New Zealand 45-7 France
Australia 17-21 France
New Zealand 24-26 Spain
Spain 10-26 France
New Zealand 36-12 Australia
POOL D
England 21-7 Scotland
Argentina 24-7 Japan
England 19-7 Japan
Argentina 31-14 Scotland
Scotland 29-7 Japan
Argentina 14-33 England
DAY TWO FIXTURES
Sun, Mar 10 – 09:30 PT / 12:30 ET – TROPHY QF – Wales vs Japan
Sun, Mar 10 – 09:52 PT / 12:52 ET – TROPHY QF – Australia vs Kenya
Sun, Mar 10 – 10:14 PT / 13:14 ET – TROPHY QF – Scotland vs Chile
Sun, Mar 10 – 10:36 PT / 14:36 ET – TROPHY QF – Canada vs Spain
Sun, Mar 10 – 11:08 PT / 14:08 ET – CUP QF – South Africa vs Argentina
Sun, Mar 10 – 11:30 PT / 14:30 ET – CUP QF – New Zealand vs Fiji
Sun, Mar 10 – 11:52 PT / 14:52 ET – CUP QF – England vs USA
Sun, Mar 10 – 12:14 PT / 15:14 ET – CUP QF – Samoa vs France
