Canadian women's, men's rugby 7s teams perfect on 1st day of Olympic qualifiers
Canadian women outscore opponents 194-0 at Starlight Stadium in Langford, B.C.
Canada's women sevens rugby squad moved into Sunday's semifinal, and the men set a path to get there, as both teams won all their games Saturday at the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Olympic qualifying tournament in Langford, B.C.
The Canadian women crushed Mexico 82-0, to punctuate lopsided victories over St. Lucia (59-0) and Jamaica (53-0), and outscored their opponents by a combined 194-0, in front of 3,352 mostly Canada-supporting fans.
"We don't just want to look at the score line," said women's coach Jack Hanratty following the win over Jamaica. "We want to look at every moment of the game to see where we can do better, we want to look at every moment in the game."
They certainly did that, scoring pretty much at will against a Mexican squad that infrequently had possession of the ball inside or outside its own end.
But this wasn't a matter of trying to drive up the score, Hanratty said. More so, it was a matter of chasing a perfect performance.
"There is a big element of the unknown for us, so for us, we're trying to concentrate on ourselves," he said.
The men won both their games, but not as convincingly, and will need a victory Sunday over St. Lucia to advance to the semifinals.
CBC Sports has full coverage throughout the weekend.
After battering Barbados 38-0 in their opening match, the Canadians found themselves tied with a pesky Jamaican squad that trailed by only two with 2:13 remaining in the second of two seven-minute halves.
Brock Webster's late try secured Canada a 21-12 victory.
"Yes, it was a lot closer than what we were looking for, but hats off to Jamaica, they put an incredible performance together," said Alex Russell, who did most of the legwork on Webster's late insurance run down the wing.
The Canadian men were hoping to build some momentum following their win against Barbados, in full knowledge they'll have to beat the U.S. to win the tournament and guarantee an invitation to Paris.
"I think we were just trying to be a little too cute with the ball," captain Phil Berna said.
St. Vincent & The Grenadines pulled out of the tournament late last week, forcing some schedule juggling that reshaped the women's afternoon into a round-robin, with Jamaica, St. Lucia and Mexico joining Canada.
The Canadian women won't have to contend with the powerful U.S. team that is already Paris-bound, after its top-four finish in this season's HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series.
Canada's No, 14-ranked men, however, will have to get past the 10th-ranked U.S., which took a step toward booking a ticket in Sunday's semifinal with lopsided (62-0 and 40-0) victories over Bermuda and Mexico, respectively.
The last teams standing Sunday qualify for next summer's Paris Games.
With files from CBC Sports
