Canadian women’s rugby team finishes a disappointing sixth at Dubai Sevens

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — After winning all three games on Day 1, Canada dropped two of three Friday to finish a disappointing sixth at the opening stop of the 2016-17 HSBC World Rugby Women’s Sevens Series.

The Dubai Sevens title went to New Zealand, which exacted a measure of revenge for its loss in the Rio Olympic final by defeating defending Series champion Australia 17-5. Russia beat England 19-14 for the bronze.

Canada also finished sixth last year in Dubai, its worst finish of the season.

The Canadian women, who won bronze at the Summer Games, defeated Brazil, Spain and England on Thursday to win their pool and advance to the Cup quarter-final. But their progress was halted in a 17-7 loss to Russia.

Canada rebounded to beat South Africa 19-12 but was beaten 17-14 by Fiji in the match for sixth place.

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Canada finished third overall on the circuit last season. Russia finished seventh and Fiji eighth.

“First tournament of the year is always challenging for our players,” said assistant coach Sandro Fiorino, who was in charge with head coach John Tait attending to a family matter back home. “New positions and starting combinations is a challenge. But I was excited to see some of our young players step up and accept the challenge of being starters.”

Fiorino singled out Breanne Nichols, Hannah Darling and Charity Williams for praise on that score.

Veteran Ghislaine Landry, captaining the team in the absence of the injured Jen Kish, scored two converted tries to give Canada a 14-7 halftime lead against Fiji.

But two tries in the final five minutes gave Fiji its best-ever result at a World Series event. The Pacific Islanders’ previous best was sixth.

“Overall the effort was there in the extreme Dubai heat but we lacked the executions, too many opportunities left on the table,” said Fiorino.

Landry’s 14 points in the match briefly put her atop the Series all-time scoring list at 617 points. But New Zealand star Portia Woodman upped her total to 620 with a try in the final.

Russia, which failed to qualify for the Olympics, ran up a 10-0 lead against Canada at halftime on tries by Kristina Seredina and Daria Bobkova. A converted Julia Greenshields try cut the lead to 10-7 with two minutes remaining but Elena Zdrokova scored one minute later to knock Canada out of championship contention.

Landry, Williams and Britt Benn scored tries in the win over South Africa.

The circuit heads to Sydney in February.

The Canadian Press