CANADA OPENS 2017-18 SEASON WITH FOURTH PLACE FINISH

Canada’s women’s sevens team has opened the 2017-18 HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series with a fourth place finish at the Dubai Sevens after dropping their bronze medal match 10-5 to Russia.

Canada began the day with a 24-19 extra-time win over France in the cup quarterfinals but fell out of cup contention after a 25-7 loss to Australia in the semifinals.

After taking three wins from three in pool action on day one, Canada lost two of their three matches on day two.

Australia won the cup final over runners-up USA.

Canadian Julia Greenshields finished tied for second in tournament scoring with 35 points and her seven tries were also tied for the second-most in Dubai. Greenshields was named to the tournament Dream Team.

Canada earned 14 series points and sit fourth place in the standings after one round.

Canada will now enjoy a long break between events, as the second leg doesn’t come until the end of January at the Sydney Sevens, a tournament Canada won last season.

What head coach John Tait said:

“We did keep our composure against France after going down a couple of scores in the first half and then finished off clinically in extra-time. That game was physically draining, A lot of contact in that oppressive heat, I think caught up with us as the day went on. We got behind against Australia after they forced us into a couple of turnovers and we got sucked in on defence and they just executed the way they can. The Australians have played quite a few tournaments in their preseason and look like they are in mid-season form already. Saying that we fought back and had our chances to make a game of it but they pulled away again from our turnovers late in the second half. The Russia result is really gutting because we know we are better than that but our tank looked empty and with a shortened bench from Breanne getting injured and inexperience, we struggled big time to get any sort of momentum going. We still had a chance to steal it at the end but Russia were just better than us today and we will have a lot to learn from that one.”

“Not pleased with fourth at all. We had a real opportunity to start the season off with a top-three finish and gain some points on New Zealand but we didn’t and we can make no excuses for it. Hard lessons at the series level when you don’t perform the way you can but we will learn from it and have to be better in Sydney in a couple of months time. There is still a lot of silverware to be had this coming year and some big competitions to look forward to, we will focus on those now.”

Canada’s Dubai Sevens Roster (Name - Club, Hometown):

Britt Benn – Guelph Redcoats (Napanee, ON)

Emma Chown – Kingston Panthers (Barrie, ON)

Caroline Crossley – Castaway Wanderers (Victoria, BC)

Hannah Darling – Peterborough Pagans (Warsaw, ON)

Julia Greenshields – Sarnia Saints (Sarnia, ON)

Jen Kish – Edmonton Rockers (Edmonton, ON)

Tausani Levale – Abbotsford Griffins (Abbotsford, BC)

Ghislaine Landry – Toronto Scottish (Toronto, ON)

Megan Lukan – Unattached (Barrie, ON)

Kayla Moleschi – Williams Lake Rustlers (Williams Lake, BC)

Breanne Nicholas – London St. Georges RFC (Blenheim, ON)

Natasha Watcham-Roy – Hull Volant (Gatineau, QC)

Injured:

Bianca Farella - Town of Mount Royal RFC (Montreal, QC)

Sara Kaljuvee – Toronto Scottish (Ajax, ON)

Kaili Lukan - Unattached (Barrie, ON)

Charity Williams - Markham Irish (Toronto, ON)

Canada's Dubai Sevens Day 1 Schedule (Thursday, November 30):

Canada 19-0 Spain

Canada 31-0 Ireland

Canada 31-14 Fiji

Canada's Dubai Sevens Day 2 Schedule (Friday, December 1):

Canada 24-19 France (Cup Quarterfinals)

Canada 7-25 Australia (Cup Semifinals)

Canada 5-10 Russia (Bronze Medal)

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