Canada moves onto Rugby 7s quarters in Vancouver
Host team goes 2-1 on opening day of tournament
With just nine healthy players at his disposal, Canadian men's rugby sevens head coach Damian McGrath had no complaints on Saturday night.
Neither did the raucous crowd at B.C. Place Stadium that cheered on their heroes in the dying seconds against New Zealand, imploring them to score one more time even though the result was a foregone conclusion.
Vilimoni Koroi had two tries and captain Scott Curry added the other as New Zealand edged the host nation 15-14 in the final group match at the Canada Sevens tournament.
The Canadians got tries from captain Harry Jones and that late consolation effort from Adam Zaruba, his fifth of the day. Nathan Hirayama added two conversions to finish 9 of 10 overall.
Both teams had already clinched spots in Sunday's elite Cup quarter-finals after winning their first two matches, but Canada gave the All Blacks Sevens a tough test despite injuries to John Moonlight, Justin Douglas and Phil Berna.
"To come out and compete with New Zealand with nine fit players, I think it tells a story about how committed the players are," said McGrath
Canada readies for South Africa
Canada, ranked 12th in the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series, finished second in Pool D and will face No. 1 South Africa on Sunday at 2:08 p.m. ET.
No. 4 New Zealand, meanwhile, is set to take on No. 3 England.
Canada opened the 16-team tournament with a 28-15 victory over No. 7 Scotland before downing No. 14 Russia 26-5. New Zealand thumped Russia 40-0 and Scotland 35-12.
McGrath said Moonlight (knee) is 50-50 for the quarters, and didn't know the status of Douglas (leg) and Berna (knee).
"I hope they've got some magic dust they're going to sprinkle," joked the Englishman. "It's touch and go. We'll just have to see."
Jones and his teammates credited the crowd of 38,058 with lifting them all day.
"We spoke about this last year. It does something tangible," he said of the deafening noise. "You can't really grasp it. It pushes you so hard in those last four, five minutes. That's when you need it. I could have gone for another 10 minutes and that's honestly because of the fans.
"It's going to be packed [Sunday]. We need them to be behind us."
Jones gives Canada early lead
Canada jumped out to 7-0 lead against New Zealand on Jones' try after a nice ball from Zaruba that Hirayama converted two minutes in, a move that was met with wild cheers.
Koroi then played a nice chip and chase to score his first try, but missed the conversion. Currie got over the line with no time left in the half, but Koroi again missed the conversion as New Zealand led 10-7 at the break.
Canada's Lucas Hammond denied Koroi of a second try with a great tackle that stripped the ball in the second half, but he wouldn't be denied a little later after juking past the bigger Zaruba.
"It was a tough one. Canada really put up a fight there," said Curry. "To be honest it's probably worthy of a final. It felt like a final with the crowd behind them. It was good to get a win."
With the score 15-7, the Canadians pushed down the field knowing the game was effectively over, but wanted to give both themselves and the crowd some positive vibes heading into Sunday.
"Just putting a stamp on our game," said Jones. "We could have kicked the ball out, but the big guy goes over for a try, a bit of a confidence booster. It just shows what we can do."
Canucks in tough vs. Blitzboks
Attention now turns to South Africa, which got past Canada 26-7 last weekend in Las Vegas. The Canadians haven't beaten the Blitzboks since 2013 and are just 5-36 all-time.
"We've played a good game plan against them the last couple times," said Jones. "They edged us out because of a few turnovers, but if we're squeaky clean we'll win."
The Canadians were 5-1 in Vancouver last year, including a memorable victory over Australia, but a last-second loss to Wales in their first match pushed the hosts into the consolation bracket.
"Three of the last four tournaments we've got to the quarter-finals, which proves we're a top-8 team," said McGrath, who took over in October. "That's a big step forward for us. We're disappointed now just to get to the quarter-finals. We need to take that next step.
"It's going to be hard without a full squad, but as they displayed there, they're a committed bunch. I wouldn't put past them."
After attracting some 60,000 spectators to the inaugural two-day Canada Sevens in 2016, organizers expect a crowd of 76,000 through the turnstiles this weekend to watch rugby's fast-paced, seven-on-seven incarnation that sees games come one after the other.
Festive atmosphere
These tournaments are known for their festive atmospheres and Vancouver is no different. Fans were milling about the neighbourhood around B.C. Place long before the first match kicked off at 9:30 a.m. local time, with many showing up in co-ordinated costumes.
Canada started the 10-city tour with back-to-back 13th-place finishes before grabbing a surprising fourth, another 13th and then an eighth last weekend in Las Vegas. The next stop is Hong Kong in early April followed by Singapore, Paris and London.
The Canadians were ninth last year in Vancouver despite that 5-1 record, winning the Bowl over France to wrap up a successful weekend on and off the field.
But they were unable to build on that momentum and failed to make the Summer Games in Rio, instead staying home and watching Canada's women's team grab bronze.
The men then saw their funding from the government-backed Own the Podium program slashed to zero last month.
"This is the highlight of the year," said Hirayama. "This is our Olympics. This is pretty special."