Canada's men's rugby sevens team claims 2nd-ever victory over New Zealand
Canadian squad moves on to Sunday's quarter-final
Canada's men's rugby sevens team claimed only their second-ever victory over New Zealand in the opening day of the second leg of the HSBC Sevens Series in Cape Town on Saturday.
The team bounced back from a 24-10 pool opener loss to Samoa by beating New Zealand 24-12 in their second game of the day.
Canada's Nathan Hirayama, Phil Mack and captain John Moonlight ran in the tries in a match dominated by the underdogs in both attack and defence.
Vancouver's Hirayama opened the scoring before Mack, of Victoria, B.C., scrambled over to put Canada up 14-0 only four minutes into the game.
New Zealand's Dylan Collier countered with an unconverted try, but the rugby sevens giants could not hold back a confident Canadian team.
Powerful skipper Moonlight, of Pickering, Ont., crashed over late to make it 19-5 at half-time.
The second period brought New Zealand within a try of pulling even with Canada thanks to DJ Forbes crossing to make it 19-12.
Moonlight went on to score his second, which sealed the triumph for Canada.
RE:LIVE: <a href="https://twitter.com/jmoonlight12">@jmoonlight12</a> scores his second as <a href="https://twitter.com/RugbyCanada">@rugbycanada</a> claim only second victory over <a href="https://twitter.com/nz7s">@nz7s</a> in Cape Town <a href="https://t.co/HAenxps93J">https://t.co/HAenxps93J</a>
—@WorldRugby7s"They're always a very tough team to play. Our kick offs kept the ball away from them and we really capitalized on that," Moonlight said.
Moonlight's timely try was a key factor in Canada moving on to Sunday's Cup quarter-final against Russia.
Their third match of the day ended in a 26-26 draw with France, but points difference put the Canadians on top and ensured their qualification.
Canada came back to tie France after falling behind 19-0.
They'll kick off against Russia Sunday at 4:20 a.m. ET.
With files from Rugby Canada