South Africa ends Canadian men’s rugby dream of Olympic qualification

MONACO — South Africa ended the Canadian men’s Olympic dream with a 28-0 victory in the World Rugby Sevens Repechage semifinal on Sunday.

Fatigue played a role with the depleted Canadiens, after losing Alex Russell and Kalin Sager to injury, with just three men on the bench. Matt Oworu, who stayed in the quarter-finals, dressed for the semi-final despite an ankle problem.

The Canadians needed a dramatic 24-19 win over Chile to reach the final four. Noah Flesch scored the winning try in extra time after Cooper Coats converted a Thomas Isherwood try with the clock running red to force extra time.

South Africa faced Great Britain in the final, with the last Olympic spot on the line at Stade Louis II, with Canada meeting Spain for third place. Great Britain beat Spain 17-12 in the other semi-final.

China and Kenya faced each other in the women’s final.

Twelve men’s and 12 women’s teams competed for the final spot in the Olympic field. The fifth-ranked Canadians have already qualified for Paris.

Selvyn Davids scored two tries and Tristan Leyds and Rosko Specman added singles for South Africa, who led Canada 14-0 at the half.

After Davids gave South Africa an early 7-0 lead, the Blitzboks lost Christie Grobbelaar to a yellow card for a high tackle in the first half, but still managed another try with Leyds cutting through the Canadian defence.

The Canadians attacked in the second half but could not breach the Blitzboks defense. And South Africa took advantage when Canada made mistakes.

Still, it was an emotional end to a dismal season that saw the Canadiens relegated from the top HSBC SVNS series after a 3-36-0 campaign. Spain dealt the final blow in Canada’s relegation battle with a 22-14 victory on June 3 in Madrid.

The men’s semi-finals featured four teams from the HSBC SVNS from 12 countries, formerly known as the HSBC World Rugby Sevens Series. South Africa finished seventh this season, while Great Britain was eighth, Spain 10th and Canada 12th.

In the other quarter-finals, Great Britain eliminated Tonga 33-0, South Africa dispatched Uganda 26-0 and Spain beat Hong Kong 26-5.

The South Africans were the favorites coming into the tournament, having won Olympic bronze in Rio in 2016 and won the HSBC SVNS Season Elite title three times, while finishing as runners-up nine times. The Blitzboks also won this season’s opening event in Dubai.

Coats and Jack McCarthy also scored tries for Canada against Chile. Tomas Salas, Cristobal Game and Gonzalo Lara replied for the South Americans, who came agonizingly close to winning promotion at the HSBC SVNS in Madrid, losing 12-10 to Uruguay in a late effort.

Canada’s men, who finished eighth at the Tokyo Olympics, have been a mainstay on the top seven circuit since 2012-13 and lifted the trophy in Singapore in 2017. Now they will have to fight their way back to the first level.

The Canadians snapped a 29-game losing streak with a much-needed 31-12 win over Uganda on Friday before knocking off China 33-14 on Saturday. This set up a showdown with undefeated Great Britain for top spot in Pool B, with the Brits winning 17-12 to give the Canadians a tougher tie in the last eight.

Canada also participated in the Monaco qualifier, losing 14-12 to Russia in the 2016 repechage quarterfinals.

Before Friday, the Canadians had not won since Dec. 10 in Cape Town – a 33-17 victory over France to finish seventh in the second stop of the season. Canada finished last in the other six events, winless in Dubai, Perth, Vancouver, Los Angeles, Hong Kong and Singapore.

Madrid have recorded four more defeats in the relegation standings.

The relegation battle was a product of the sevens circuit which reduced the number of men’s teams to 12 from 16 to align with the women’s competition and the Olympic field.

The Paris Olympic men’s field already includes hosts France plus New Zealand, Argentina, Fiji and Australia, who booked their tickets by finishing in the top four of the HSBC SVNS series this season. They are joined by six winners of regional qualifying tournaments: Uruguay (South America), Ireland (Europe), USA (North America), Kenya (Africa), Samoa (Oceania) and Japan (Asia).

The Americans beat Canada 24-14 in the Rugby Americas North (RAN) Sevens final last August in Langford, BC

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This report by The Canadian Press was first published on June 23, 2024

The Canadian Press