Hard-working Canadian women go undefeated on opening day of Edmonton rugby 7s event

A pair of hard-fought performances by Canada's women's rugby sevens team yielded ties against the top two seeds, Great Britain and United States, on Saturday in Edmonton.

Canada parlayed that momentum into a 40-12 blowout victory over Mexico later on Saturday to go undefeated on the day.

The Canadians are slated to play the U.S. in Sunday's semifinals.

One-on-one tackling, which hurt the Canadians at last week's World Series event in Vancouver, was rectified with strong team defence at Commonwealth Stadium in a 7-7 draw with the Brits.

The visitors struck first 57 seconds into the contest when Megan Jones handed off to speedy Jasmine Joyce for the try.

Seconds later, Jones caught and took down Charlottetown's Alysha Corrigan, who looked as though she might even the match.

Ottawa's Olivia De Couvreur broke through coverage on the final play of the first half for the try, with Olivia Apps of Lindsay, Ont., converting to even the match.

Earlier, Renee Gonzalez of Toronto couldn't have been better with her timing, scoring tries in the opening minute and second half to provide the Canadian women with momentum en route to a 26-26 tie against the U.S.

Sabrina Poulin came off the bench to pull Canada within two points before Apps converted for the third-seeded Canadians, who rebounded from a pair of losses to the Americans a week ago at BC Place Stadium.

Canada will play Ireland in the Cup quarter-finals Sunday after winning two of three on Day 1 of the HSBC Canada Sevens.

The Canadian men, who finished sixth last week at the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series event in Vancouver, opened play Saturday by beating Hong Kong 21-12 and Mexico 47-0 before running into a South Africa buzzsaw in the closing match of the day at Commonwealth Stadium. The Blitzboks, who downed Kenya to win the Vancouver tournament, ran in seven converted tries in a 49-0 win.

WATCH | The Breakdown: Canadian Rugby 7s preview:

Previewing Canada Rugby Sevens in Edmonton

3 years ago

Duration 5:24

CBC’s Anastasia Bucsis is joined by former Rugby Canada player Andrea Burk to preview the Canadian men’s and women’s rugby sevens tournament at the second HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series stop in Edmonton.

After Gonzalez gave the Canadian women an early lead, Summer Jones went to work for the No. 2 Americans. First, the Los Angeles athlete fended off two would-be tacklers for her team's first try before racing through the open space in the middle of the field for the lead.

Steph Rovetti split a pair of Canadian defenders for another try and 21-7 U.S. lead entering halftime.

Summer Jones runs roughshod

Emma Chown of Barrie, Ont., answered inside the first two minutes of the second half with a penalty as Jaz Gray was sent off and the U.S. was down to six players.

Gonzalez scored her second try of the match with 4:12 remaining but the conversion was missed.

Jones made it 26-19 with 1:53 left on the clock, using a stutter step to freeze the Canadian defence before outrunning at least three opponents.

The women's competition features just four teams: Canada, Britain, the U.S. and Mexico.

The "Fast Four" competition format sees the teams play each other before the top two decide the gold and the other two meet for third.

Britain won the women's event in Vancouver, downing the U.S. 34-12 in the final. The Canadian women placed third, blanking Mexico 48-0.

Canada's men were drawn in Pool A with South Africa, Mexico and Hong Kong. They entered play Saturday fresh off a sixth-place finish last Sunday in B.C., where the World Rugby Seven Series returned after a lengthy pandemic-prompted hiatus.

Thomas Isherwood of Okotoks, Alta., delighted the home crowd with a team-leading three tries against Mexico while Anton Ngongo and Ciaran Breen had two apiece.

Matthew Percillier added four converts and Prevost a pair.

Only seven of the men's core teams are taking part in the Canadian events with New Zealand. Fiji, Australia, Argentina, Japan, France and Samoa among those missing due to pandemic-related travel restrictions.

The 2022 World Series season will start with back-to-back combined events in Dubai. The first, Nov. 26-27, will be held behind closed doors while the second, Dec. 3-4, will see fans in attendance at the Sevens Stadium.

Attendance at Edmonton's Commonwealth Stadium is limited due to COVID protocols. Rugby Canada is making half of the 32,000-capacity lower bowl available and may push that to 60 per cent if demand warrants.