Rugby Sevens Recap - Day 1 - Canada misses out on medal round
Canada will miss out on competing for a medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games rugby 7's tournament as their two defeats and a victory on Saturday gave them a third place in their Commonwealth Games Sevens group.
The team went down with a 0-39 loss in the pool opener against New Zealand before coming back with a solid 68-5 win over Barbados. But a 5-21 defeat to the host nation Scotland meant it would be Bowl (consolation) action for Kieran Crowley's outfit on Sunday.
Canada faces Trinidad & Tobago in the Bowl quarter-final at 5:32am ET/2:32am PT.
What head coach Crowley said...
"You're in a pool with three core teams and one of those is going to miss out and that happens to be us. We just weren't good enough. We came here with the objective to get a medal so now we have to recover and go again tomorrow. Obviously we're disappointed but we have got to focus on finishing ninth now."
Canada 0-39 New Zealand
Canada suffered a disappointing opening defeat to New Zealand as it went down to the clinical IRB World Sevens Series champions at Ibrox Stadium in Glasgow.
Seven tries were scored in total by the All Blacks Sevens as Kieran Crowley's outfit had no answer to the attacking threats by the 2010 Gold medalists.
Bryce Heem went over first inside two minutes following a strong start from the Canadians that included Justin Douglas close early on.
The floodgates were then opened, with New Zealand getting scores from captain DJ Forbes and Tim Mikkelson, putting New Zealand 0-17 up at the interval.
Canada needed to regroup at half-time but just could not get its hands on any possession as the All Blacks Sevens increased the pressure following the turnaround.
Forbes would get his brace early on before the power and pace of Ben Lam proved too much to handle as the big finisher went over twice to make it a 0-34 lead.
Akira Ioane would have the final say in the opener as things did not improve for the Canadians, with the replacement fending off Sean Duke for a score down the left.
Following the defeat, captain John Moonlight reflected on the performance, saying: "I think our own play let us down. We gave away six penalties when we had the ball and all those resulted in tries for them. At this level you can't let that stuff happen."
"We'll look to get those things straightened out and then take it out on Barbados."
Canada 68-5 Barbados
Canada hit back from its opening pool loss with a convincing 68-5 victory over Barbados as the team cut loose in the second half at Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow.
Ten tries were amassed by the dominating Canadians, seven of those coming after the break, as they looked to build a solid points differential ahead of facing Scotland.
Moonlight opened matters soon after the kick-off as patient expansive play led to the powerful captain slipping a tackle before racing over down the right sideline.
A yellow card to Thomas Lucas after he kicked the ball away would not help Barbados' cause, the proof being Nathan Hirayama claiming seven points followed by Mike Scholz and Sean Ward trading scores for a 21-5 lead at the interval.
Canada would return showing real hunger to move up through the gears as its effective replacements' bench played a significant role in 47 points being claimed.
Harry Jones was the first man to race over the line in the second half before the floodgates opened as Moonlight and then Connor Braid's scores made it 42-5.
The impressive Hirayama's conversions were now flying over and he would get more practice in before full time as Scholz, Braid and Ciaran Hearn (2) helped Canada finish strongly ahead of an seven hour break before tackling Scotland.
"We let ourselves down in that first game (against New Zealand) and this was a chance for the players to redeem themselves. We gave away a soft try but it's a good result," said head coach Crowley before looking ahead to their pool finale.
"50,000 people will be rooting for them so it will be massive. They have got a fairly big side so I expect they might be a little bit more direct than they usually are."
Canada 5-21 Scotland
Canada couldn't repeat its victory over Scotland in the recent IRB World Sevens Series as it went down to the host nation in its final match of the pool stage.
Boosted by fifteen-a-side internationals Roddy Grant and Richie Vernon in their seven, the Scots had too much in the tank and finished second in the group.
Canada was looking to follow up its strong performance against Barbados but was behind early on when Colin Gregor found Lee Jones for the opening score.
The successful conversion proved handy as when Braid finished superbly down the left sideline, Hirayama's missed effort meant Scotland still led as half-time neared.
Unfortunately for Canada the interval scoreline would be extended soon after that excellent Braid effort as Vernon then raced away for a 5-14 deficit at the break.
Unfortunately the team could not find the key to unlock a strong Scottish defence and the loss means that Canada will miss out on the medal round, being relegated to Bowl action this Sunday.
"We beat them in Glasgow in May so we were hunting for that again," said Braid. "It came down to a couple of missed tackles but the boys left it all out there tonight."
"Scotland brought in some top quality professionals but there was a lot more heart shown there than there was in our first game. We've just come up a little short."
