Canada advances to Clermont-Ferrand Sevens quarter-finals
Women's squad will face Fiji on Sunday
Canada's women's sevens team has advanced to the Clermont-Ferrand Sevens quarter-finals after finishing Day One second in Pool B with a 2-1 record.
The Canadians opened Saturday with two wins over Japan and Russia before falling to New Zealand in their final match of pool play. Canada will face Fiji on Sunday in the Cup quarter-finals.
This is the 20th straight World Rugby Sevens Series Cup quarter-final for Canada. Through four seasons, they have made the Cup quarter-final at every event.
On Saturday, Canada opened the Clermont-Ferrand Sevens with a 21-15 win over Japan.
Britt Benn opened the scoring for Canada with a try in the second minute, but Japan responded with a try of their own to cut the lead to 7-5. After Hannah Darling extended Canada's lead, Benn scored her second try of the half to give the Canadians a 21-5 lead at the break. Japan added two second-half tries to better their point differential.
Despite conceding the opening score, Canada improved to 2-0 at the Clermont-Ferrand Sevens with a 29-12 win over Russia. Charity Williams scored her first try of the tournament just three minutes in as Canada responded from the early deficit to cut the lead to 7-5.
It was then Ghislaine Landry touching down to give Canada a 12-7 advantage. Russia responded with their second try in the opening seven minutes as both teams went into half tied 12-12. However, it was Canada responding with three second half tries through Karen Paquin, Bianca Farella and Nastasha Watcham-Roy as Canada came away with a comfortable 29-12 win.
In the day's final match, Canada and New Zealand came down to the final whistle in a 19-17 win for the Black Ferns. Canada jumped out to an early 5-0 lead through Magali Harvey's pace on the outside as she picked up her first try of the day.
New Zealand quickly responded with two tries of their own to take a 12-5 lead at half. Benn fuelled the Canadians second half attack with two tries of her own, but it was not enough to knock of the three-time series champions.