Canadian men's rugby sevens off to rough start in Paris
Trounced 42-5 by host France
France thumped Canada 42-5 on Friday in the opening game for both teams at the HSBC Sevens World Series event in Paris.
Adam Zaruba opened the scoring with a try for Canada, but the French led 14-5 at the half, adding four converted tries in the second half to complete the rout.
Coming into the ninth stop on the 10-event rugby sevens circuit, the Canadian men stood 13th overall. The French were 10th.
Canada plays No. 6 Argentina and No. 5 United States on Saturday to complete pool play. Los Pumas blanked the Americans 36-0 Friday.
Series-leading Fiji won its opener Friday, downing Scotland 38-12. No. 2 South Africa beat England 24-5 while No. 3 New Zealand dispatched Russia 35-10.
The Canadian men are using Paris and London, the final two stops on the HSBC World Series, to gear up for a last-ditch Olympic repechage tournament next month in Monaco.
Chile, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Mexico, Morocco, Russia, South Korea, Spain, Sri Lanka, Tonga, Tunisia, Uruguay, Zimbabwe and favoured Samoa are the other teams in the Olympic qualifier.